


RWBY: Homecoming

by Pencilboy98



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Family, Finding your place in the world, Hurt/Comfort, dealing with the past
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-01-21 02:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 51,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12447220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pencilboy98/pseuds/Pencilboy98
Summary: When a group of ordinary teenagers are gifted with amazing superpowers, they must learn to master these abilities in order to save their home from an evil threat. But along the way, they must look back into their pasts and overcome their greatest fears. Will they stand united or will their friendship fall apart? (RWBY Superhero AU)





	1. Ruby Rose

The light of the morning sun shined through the curtains of the bedroom, bringing life to the messy room. The walls were coated with a layer of red paint with some of them being covered with posters of either movies or superheroes that seemed to be several years old. The room didn't have very much furniture, only a table that had a computer with some games consoles sitting right next to it, a swivel chair to accompany said table, a bright red bean bag sitting in the corner of the room, some Cheshire drawers to store some small articles of clothing and a single bed, not too far from the window, covered with a black and red bed sheet that currently housed a small girl. She looked to be around 15 years of age, with black, neck length hair with red tips. She was wearing a black tank top and white long pants with pink roses as decoration, along with a black eye mask shielding her eyes from the brightness of the sun. The sounds of the girl's snoring were loud, loud enough to make it seem impossible to get her to wake up. For her sister, however, it couldn't be any more easier.

Three loud knocks came from the door that led to the hallway of the house, echoing throughout the room and causing the sleeping girl to stir and eventually rise up from her bed with a groaning noise coming from her mouth.

"Ruby, are you up yet!?" A female voice asked from the other side of the bedroom door.

"I am now." The girl known as Ruby replied, her voice clearly showing signs that she hadn't fully awakened yet.

"Well get yourself dressed and come get some breakfast or we'll be late for school again!" The voice said before the sounds of their footsteps could be heard walking farther away from the door until there was silence once again.

Ruby groaned for the second time that day. She didn't want to get up. she wanted to stay in bed all day, get some extra shuteye and then walk around the city for a little while, then come home by dinner time and go back to her room to work on her 'project'. It wasn't the most exciting of days, but anything was better than a boring day at school. But she had no choice in the matter.

She removed the eye mask from her head, revealing her bright silver eyes to the sight of her room in all of its unorganised glory. Throwing the covers off herself, Ruby swings her legs off the side of the bed and looks to the digital clock resting at her bedside. 08:03 AM it read. 'Guess I'm skipping out on the shower again.' Ruby thought to herself. This wasn't the first time she had to miss a shower due to her sleeping in, but she had gotten used to it by now. She lowered her feet into her favourite pair of fuzzy wolf slippers and slowly started to stand up from her bed, stretching her arms and letting out a massive yawn in the process. Using the little energy she had in her, Ruby made her way over to her wardrobe to find the clothes she would be wearing today.

She fished through the racks of shirts, trousers, dresses, hoodies and jackets until she found her favourite set of clothes. A red shirt with a black long sleeve undershirt, a short-sleeved hoodie that was a slightly duller shade of red, a black skirt, a thick pair of black stockings and a pair of black and red trainers. After getting dressed and cleaning herself up a little bit, she walked out of her room, down the stairs and into the kitchen.

The first thing that Ruby noticed was her parents. Her father, Taiyang was sitting at the kitchen table, reading this morning's newspaper while drinking a cup of coffee from a mug that read '#1 Dad' on it. Meanwhile her mother, Summer was over at the kitchen worktop, finishing up the freshly made bacon and eggs for breakfast while humming a tune that Ruby swore she heard from somewhere before. Maybe from one of those pop bands that her mother used to listen to in her youth.

"Morning sleepy head." The cheery voice of her mother broke Ruby out of her thoughts. "How's my little rose petal today?"

"Sleepy and wishing she was back in her bed right now." Ruby said as she took her place at the kitchen table.

"You won't be saying that after you have some of my home cooking that I know you love oh so much."

Summer handed out three plates filled with bacon, eggs and beans in front of Ruby, Taiyang and an empty seat at the table. Ruby began to dig into her morning breakfast in a slow manner, taking her time to cut the bacon into smaller pieces. If she was hoping to power through the school day, she  _needed_  the energy.

"So, mind telling us why you didn't get up out of your room until now?" Taiyang asked as he put down his newspaper to eat the breakfast sitting in front of him. "Don't tell me you overslept again?"

"What? Me? Overslept?" Ruby faked a laugh in an attempt to throw her father off her trail. She didn't want him to find out that she had stayed up all night looking up weapon designs on the internet again. "That is probably the funniest joke you've ever told. I didn't oversleep, I was up all night studying." Ruby had a... interesting fascination in weaponry. Whether it was sword and shield, AK-47's or Futuristic laser guns, She would always be amazed by either its build quality, design, functions or most of the time - the sheer coolness of the weapon itself. Her family knew this fact all too well.

"Huh, I remember you saying that the last time you slept in." Ruby's laugh died in an instant upon hearing her father's response, mentally facepalming herself for using the same excuse she used plenty of times before.

"It's ok, I'm just messing with you, sweetie." Taiyang reached out to Ruby, playfully rubbing her hair. "But still, you can't just stay up all night until 2:00 in the morning just to look at weapons."

"I know but I just can't help it." Ruby said. "Weapons are just my thing right now, and I want to keep up-to-date with all the latest news around them."

"Ruby, I don't think it is normal for a girl of your age to take a liking to tools of murder and destruction." Summer stated, looking to her daughter with a look of worry on her face.

"It's alright mom, it's just an interest." Ruby gave her mother a heartwarming smile that washed away any worry she had in her - mostly. "Besides, it's not like I'm building a massive superweapon, right?"

There was silence for about 15 seconds. Both of her parents gave her a look that she couldn't tell if it was a look of confusion or a look that said 'your joking, right?'. The silence was broken when the three of them heard a fourth voice give an opinion.

"Ruby's right you know. I mean, the only weapon that she is capable of making is her own snoring." The voice said with a joking tone to it. Ruby turned to its origin to see a female figure, leaning against the kitchen door frame with her arms crossed and with the world's biggest smirk plastered across her face. She had bright golden hair and lilac coloured eyes. Her clothes consisted of an orange tank top that exposed her midriff, a brown leather jacket, blue loose fitting jeans held up by a belt with golden buckle and brown work boots. It was her sister, Yang Xiao Long.

"Oh come on!" Ruby shouted. "My snoring isn't that loud!"

"Really? Because I swear I can hear it through the walls." Yang chuckles as she walks over to her seat and proceeds to sit down.

"At least my snoring is better sounding than your god-awful puns." Ruby retorts, her mouth curving into a grin.

A fake gasp escapes from Yang's mouth as she puts her hand to her mouth. "Ruby, I am hurt that you would call my brilliant puns awful." The two sisters look directly at each other before they share a laugh together over their playful banter. Their parents look to them with warm smiles.

To say that Ruby and Yang had an unbreakable bond between them would be the understatement of the century. When they were just little kids, the two of them would always be out in their backyard playing with each other until the sunset. Yang would keep Ruby company whenever their mother and father were out at their jobs or were too busy to come play with her, Even reading her bedtime stories at night. Whenever Ruby was bullied or harassed at school, Yang would be there to defend her little sister, even if it meant skipping class or roughing up the bullies and getting into serious trouble. However, sometimes Ruby would help Yang through her own struggles. One occasion she could think of, off at the top of her head was the day when Yang lost her right arm.

Ruby glanced over to her sister's right hand to see the familiar sight of the yellow and black paint coating the metal limb. Just thinking about that day gives her goosebumps from head to toe. She could only remember bits and pieces of what happened, but she didn't  _want_  to remember the rest. It would hurt her to know every single detail that caused her sister's accident. All she cared about was that Yang was safe and was back to her old self after a month of recovery, thanks to Ruby of course.

She snapped back to reality as she feels her mother's hand rest upon her shoulder. "Is something the matter Ruby? Is something wrong with your breakfast?"

"Y-your cookings fine mom. I'm Just thinking about... something." Ruby answered, returning to her breakfast which she had barely touched.

"Are you worrying about your high school graduation?"

Ruby thought about it for few seconds until she could give an answer. "Okay, I am a little bit worried about graduation, but it's ok. I can handle it."

"What are you so worried about?" Yang asked, sounding Optimistic. "Every teenager has to go through this at one point in their life. Heck, I'm going to be graduating alongside you in a few weeks, so in that case, I should be just as worried as you are right now."

"You weren't the one who got to skip 2 years of school because she was smarter than the actual course." Ruby countered.

"So you were bumped up by 2 Grades." Yang shrugs. "I don't see the big deal about it."

Ruby stared at her sister with piercing eyes. " _The big deal_ Yang is that everyone believes that I was moved up because I'm special in some way and I hate it when people say that about me. I just want to be treated like a normal girl."

Her father stopped eating his breakfast to wrap his arm around his youngest daughter to comfort her. "Don't say stuff like that. Nobody thinks of you being different to any other teenager." She faces her father with a raised eyebrow. "Just because you were the smartest student in your year doesn't mean you're automatically a super special person. It means that you are just as normal as any other girl." He paused for a moment before continuing. "And besides, you'll always be special to us sweetie, so stop worrying about what everyone expects from you and let me see that cheerful smile that everyone  _knows_ you for."

Her father's words made Ruby feel a whole lot better like all the stress and worries she was facing had suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke. "Thanks, Dad. You're the best."

"That what it says on the mug." Taiyang jokingly said, raising said mug and taking a drink from it. His family attempted to hold back the laughter escaping their mouths, mostly Yang.

After the laughter subsided, Summer directed her attention to her children."Okay you two, finish up your breakfast and leave your plates in the sink. You don't want to be late for school now."

"Sure thing Mom." Both sisters said simultaneously as they continued with their breakfast.

As she was consuming her eggs, Ruby had a strange feeling entering her head, a feeling that told her something about today was not going to be normal for her. But why? The morning started off just like any other day of school, except for her sleeping in and her family's talk over graduation, but even that seemed normal to her. What was so different about today?

She didn't ponder on it any longer as went back to her breakfast.

* * *

The door to the garage is swung open as Yang and Ruby walk in, now with school bags hanging from their shoulders. Both walk past the family car and headed straight for a yellow and orange motorcycle that was leaning against the wall. Yang grabbed it by the handlebars, pulling it in front of the garage doors, then she began to pat the bike lovingly.

"Hello, Bumblebee," she whispered. "Are you ready for another ride today?"

"I still can't believe you gave that thing a name." Ruby interrupted

"Don't say that in front of her!" Yang yelled, briefly looking at her sister before looking back at Bumblebee. "You'll hurt her feelings."

"Feelings?" Ruby rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you treat that bike like it's your own flesh and blood."

Yang kicks down the bike stand and walks over to the shelves, looking for something. "Oh come on Rubes, you practically do the exact same thing, only you do it to that weird sketch of an oversized pickaxe in your notepad."

"First of, Crescent Rose is not an oversized pickaxe, it's a scythe," Ruby explained. "And secondly, it's not a real thing, it's just a concept lying there collecting dust."

"If it's a concept, then that means you can build one, right?"

"I mean - that's not - what I meant was - urgh!" Ruby brings her hands to her head in frustration, Making Yang smile at her sister's attempt to correct herself. She always knew how to get under her sister's skin and make her freak out in the most hilarious of ways. It was just one of her ways of showing how much she cares for Ruby.

She continues her shelve searching until she finds what she's looking for. "Ah-ha. There you are!" Yang victoriously shouts, pulling out two bike helmets, one coloured yellow, the other coloured red. She tosses the red one to her sister and then proceeds to strap the other one to her own head. Ruby fumbles with the helmet before eventually catching it in her hands. After putting it on, she walks over to Yang who was already sitting on Bumblebee and sits behind her.

"Hold on tight now." Yang tells her sister, who nods her head in agreement and wraps her arms around her waist. She fishes through her pockets, brings out a set of keys and pressing a button to open the garage, then she inserts the keys into her bike and turns them, causing the engine to rev into life.

She kicks the stand back up and drives out onto the road, heading towards the city.

* * *

The tyres of Bumblebee came to a screeching halt as its driver switches off the engine and takes her helmet off, shaking her hair back into its messy state.

"We're here." Ruby looks up from her sister's back to see a building made of concrete and metal that was about 3 stories high and extremely wide from her point of view. The place was Signal High School, the biggest high school in the country. The school has been around for years, providing both Humans and Faunus with equal education opportunities since its founding. It has been called by many as the best high school anyone can go to.

To Ruby, however, she only knows one thing to call it: Prison.

She removed her helmet and stepped off Bumblebee, waiting for her sister to lock up the bike so that no one would steal it. If anyone did try to steal it, they would be tasting one of Yang's infamous knuckle sandwiches, metal edition. Unfortunately, this would sometimes cause the police to get involved and they would always arrest her for assault before releasing her the next day.

After finishing locking up Bumblebee, Yang walked to Ruby and gave her an encouraging smile. "So, you ready for another exciting day at your  _favourite_  place in the whole wide world?" she asked, putting heavy emphasis on 'favourite'.

"Ready as I'll ever be" Ruby replied dryly. The two sisters start walking to the entrance of the school and enter the building.

As soon as they entered, they could immediately tell that they were in school. The wide open halls, the massive amount of students walking to their classes or chatting to one another, the clear, clean floor that would become dirty again when lunchtime came around, the rows upon rows of lockers that were bolted to the walls, the countless doors leading to the same identical looking classrooms, it was all here. Just your average boring high school.

"So, should we head to our first class of the day?" Yang asked.

"You go on without me," Ruby replied. "I'm gonna need to grab something from my locker really quick."

"Er, Well I would but here's the thing." Yang paused, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. Ruby looked at her with confusion in her eyes. "I kinda… forgot… where our classroom is."

"WHAT?!" Ruby shouted, her jaw gaped wide open upon hearing Yang's excuse. She couldn't believe that her own sister had forgotten where their classroom was again. She had only one question on her mind. "What happened to your timetable this time?!"

"I, er, lost it?" Yang answered, but Ruby could tell that even she didn't know what happened to it this time. She would agree that Yang wasn't the smartest person in the school, but she certainly wasn't the dumbest either.

With a sigh, Ruby started to walk away. "Fine, come with me." she muttered reluctantly, as Yang began to follow her to her locker.

The two of them walked down the hallway in utter silence, only waving or saying hello to other students. It was only until they reached their lockers, which happened to be right next to each other, that Yang decided to break the ice.

"What do you need from your locker anyway?" she asked. "I thought you have everything you need in your bag."

"I do," Ruby opened and started to rummage through her locker. "I just need to get some history books that I borrowed from someone."

Yang raised an eyebrow. She noticed that Ruby intentionally left out the person's name and that only made her curious. Her sister would never hide something from her unless it was something that would get her into a lot of trouble or it was something that was really, really embarrassing. She had to find out what Ruby was hiding.

"And may I ask who this 'someone' is?" She teasingly asks, watching Ruby pull out at least 3 different books from her locker and then closing it.

"Oh, you know," She nervously replies as the two began to walk back up the hall to their first period. "One of our friends gave them to me so that I could study for that history test."

"I don't remember you asking Blake if you could have some of her books."

"I didn't ask Blake, She didn't have the books with the details that I needed, I ask-" Ruby couldn't finish her sentence as she collided into something, sending her falling to the ground and dropping all of her books. She hit the ground hard, bringing her hands to her bottom and rubbing them to comfort the pain. It was always common for Ruby to get so wrapped up in a conversation with someone that she completely forgets where she was going, which would lead to her smacking face first into something. But this time, it was someone.

"Ruby Rose, watch where you're going, you dolt!" An annoyed voice rung through Ruby's ears as she looks up to see a girl with ivory white hair staring back with light blue eyes. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail that just reaches the top of her back, with some flowing down from the sides of her face. She wore a simple white dress with a pale blue sash wrapped around her waist along with an ice blue, elbow length bolero jacket that was red on the inside. The girl also wore blue ankle length socks and black strap-on school shoes, making her seem shorter than usual.

Ruby starts to pick herself up off the floor, thinking of a way to apologise to her friend. "Sorry Weiss, I didn't see you there."

"Maybe we should get your eyes checked," Weiss complained, crossing her arms. "Because that's like the fiftieth time you have knocked yourself to the ground!"

Ruby wasn't hurt by Weiss' comment, in fact, it brought a smile to her face. She knew that her response was because of her upbringing in Atlas, the city of dreams. Weiss' family were the owners of a company called Schnee Tech Industries, a tech firm dedicated to the research and development of new advances in technology ranging from household items to military weaponry. Because of this, the Schnee's became one of the richest families on Remnant. As a result, Weiss' early childhood was one of loneliness and obedience. She had every decision made for her, made by her father. She was unable to make any friends back in Atlas, the only 'friends' she made were with any business partners connected to the company. So some people would find it laughable for the daughter to one of the wealthiest families in the world to be best friends with two girls who were nowhere as rich as her. But that was far from the truth.

Weiss was a long time friend of Ruby and Yang. They first met when they were just in the 1st grade. She had moved with her older sister to Vale from Atlas due to… family issues when she was 7. Her sister thought it would help her socialise with actual kids. Normal kids with normal lives. But on her first day of school, no one even attempted to be friends with Weiss. It wasn't because she was new there, it was because the other students thought she was too good to be their friend. Every lunchtime, Weiss could be found sitting at a table all by herself, eating the food she was provided with by the school board. The scene was depressing, to say the least. One day, while she was eating her lunch in the familiar but uncomfortable silence, a girl who was 2 years younger than her sat down right next to her and began talking to her. It was a weird feeling that Weiss felt. The idea of talking to someone about her life or about theirs was foreign to her. She tried to ignore the girl's conversation, blocking her out just like she had done with the other kids and it seemed to work when the girl finally left her when she had finished her food. But then she came back the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that. Every day at lunch, Weiss would always be accompanied by this enthusiastic girl, talking about whatever topic she could think of. She tried her best to push her away, but it was no use. The girl's determination was stronger than anything she had witnessed before. Eventually, Weiss decide it was time to throw in the towel and began to engage in the conversation. Surprisingly, she found that the girl was incredibly friendly to her and helped her with any problems she was having, either at school or at home. Weiss finally had someone other than her sister to talk to, someone who treated her like a normal girl, someone who called her 'a friend'. And that girl was Ruby. Since then, Ruby was able to help Weiss break from her lonely lifestyle and change her into someone with a new look on her life. That still didn't change her personality, however.

Weiss let out a soft sigh and smiled. "Anyway, how are you two this morning?"

Before she could say anything, Ruby was immediately cut off by Yang. "Well so far, I'm having a very 'Weiss' morning! Eh? Guys?"

Both Ruby and Weiss just glared at the blonde, groaning over her unfunny pun. After taking a breath, Weiss spoke up. "I'm gonna to pretend that I didn't hear that." She turns to look at Ruby, who was picking up the books that she dropped earlier. "What about you Ruby, how are you today?"

Ruby let out another yawn before answering. "I'm fine, although I am still feeling tired from reading these books last night."

Yang noticed her sister's lie and attempts to correct her. "I thought you said you were looking at weapon designs again?"

"Sssshhhh! No, I wasn't! I was doing research for the exam."

"Clearly." Weiss muttered sarcastically. "Speaking of which, I take it that those books you just dropped were mine?"

"Um, w-well yes, they are. I was going to give them back to you during class today. I hope you didn't mind me keeping them for a little longer than usu-"

"Woah, Woah, Woah, hang on a minute!" Yang interrupted. " Those books belong to you, Ice Queen?"

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. She hated the nickname that Yang had given her when they first met. It was due to her cold attempts at making friends with the blonde, so in truth, it was her own fault that she was given that name, but it still was grating on her. "Yes, Yang. Those are my books. The books that Ruby borrowed and was supposed to give back to me last week!"

"I'm sorry, I just needed them to study a bit more, just to be sure that I am ready for this test." Ruby picked up the fallen books and handed them back to Weiss who put them straight into her bag.

"Well give me a little warning the next time you decide to keep my books from me, okay?" she stared at the Brunette with her ice-cold eyes, only getting a nod in response. "Good. Now let's get to class. I don't want to be late because of your clumsiness."

The Ice Queen began to walk away, leaving the two sisters to think for a moment before they started to catch up with her. As they were walking, Yang leaned towards her sister.

"So, why did you really ask Weiss for her books instead of Blake?" She whispered.

"I already told you, Blake's book didn't have the details I needed but Weiss' ones did." Ruby replied angrily, yet quietly. " Why are you asking anyway?"

"Well, it just seems that you are hanging out with Weiss more than usual. I mean, you help each other with any school work, you follow her home and sometimes stay there until 7:00 and now you're asking her to give you some of her books to help you study. You usual ask me or Blake for help first, so why are you spending more time with Weiss than-" Suddenly, Yang stopped like something had just clicked in her mind. Ruby was scared when she saw her sister's lips contort into a shit-eating grin. Whatever she just thought of couldn't be a good thing.

"Ruby, do you have feelings for Weiss?"

Ruby flinched when she heard her sister's question, her face turned redder than her shirt. How could she say such a thing? Weiss was just her best friend, not her girlfriend. This was probably the craziest thing her sister has ever said just to get a reaction out of her. And unfortunately, it was working.

"What?! No! No, no, no, no, no!" Ruby practically shouted, causing her sister to step back. "Why would you say something like that! Especially when we're in school!"

"Ha, I knew it! You do have a crush on her" Yang laughed uncontrollably. She couldn't help herself, it was just too good to pass off. Her little sister has fallen in love with Weiss Schnee, the same Weiss Schnee who didn't want to even be friends with her, to begin with. She wanted to be proud that her sister had found love, but she also wanted to tease the heck out of her.

"I do not!" Ruby retorted

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't!"

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't!"

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't!"

"Yes, you do!"

"NO I DON'T!"

"Geez, could you be anymore louder?" The sister's little argument was interrupted by the sound of a calm, yet irritated voice. They looked behind them only to be startled by the sight of a girl with black hair and amber eyes. She was wearing a black and purple striped sweater over a white button-up shirt with grey jeans and black slip-on shoes. To top it all off, she had a black bow tied to the top of her head. Weiss had turned around to see what all the commotion was about and saw Ruby and Yang breathing heavily like they got the fright of their lives, and the third girl, who was smiling over their reactions.

"You gotta stop sneaking up on us like that Blake." she stated after piecing two and two together. " I swear, one of these days, you're going give one of us a heart attack."

Blake simple chuckled at Weiss' joke. "Don't worry. I don't think I'm sneaky enough for that to happen."

Blake was somewhat a mystery to her friends. She barely talks about her childhood to anyone but herself and Yang, most likely because the two were the strongest of friends. All that her friends knew about her was that she grew up in Menagerie, an island just south of Anima that was entirely inhabited by Faunus. She then moved to Vale along with her parents when she was about 8, but she never stated why she moved to begin with. She met her friends not long after she started going to school, it took her awhile to warm up to them, but she eventually trusted them enough to be friends. Well, she didn't trust them with all of her life, but at least she was open to being friends with them.

"B-Blake?" Ruby asked, still trying to catch her breath. "How long have you being listening to us talk?"

"Not for long." Blake shrugged. "Only the part about you having a crush on someone."

"Wait, what?" Weiss confusingly asks, causing Ruby's face to return to its bright red state.

"I-I-It's nothing!" She blurted out "S-S-She doesn't know what she's talking about. It's all a huge misunderstanding!"

"See! You're trying to hide it!" Yang points an accusing finger to Ruby. "That proves that you have a crush for-"

"I don't have a crush on anyone!" Ruby quickly yelled, hitting her sister in the arm to shut her up. "Now, can we all just get to class before this discussion goes somewhere it doesn't need to!"

With that being said, Ruby stormed off from her friends to find her classroom. Everyone just stared at the 15-year-old gets further and further away from them. Weiss then turns back to Yang and Blake with an important question.

"I don't suppose you two are going to tell me who this 'crush' is, are you?" She demanded.

"I think it's best if we let Ruby tell us who it is in her own time." Blake answered calmly. "She may not want to reveal it to us right now, but she's going to have to tell us at some point."

"I hope you're right Blakey." Yang worryingly replied before returning to her cheery self. "Come on, let's catch up with her."

"That I can agree on." Weiss exclaimed before the three girls started to follow where Ruby was last heading. They hoped she wouldn't still be mad at them over the discussion they just had, but Ruby was always a cheerful girl and they knew that in time, she will forget everything that happened and forgive them. It was just what Ruby does.

Meanwhile up ahead, Ruby was grumbling to herself about what just happened back there. She couldn't believe that she reacted like that to them. She did have some arguments with her friends before, but never anything this extreme. She started to think of a way to apologise to them when they have free time, but then she started to think about the question that started this problem.

'Ruby, do you have feelings for Weiss?' That was the million dollar question on Ruby's mind. Did she truly have feelings for Weiss? And if she did, then why now? She has been friends with her for a long time and not once had she had romantic feelings for needed to know if her sister was right. But that can wait. Right now she needed to get her head straight and focus on the current task at hand, and that was to get through the school day. She would have to develop her relationship with Weiss at a later date.

With the multitude of unsure thoughts flying through her brain, only one of them was concrete enough that she knew was true:

Today was going to be a long day.


	2. Friends in Need

The first half of school was just as long and boring as any other school day would be. Every class the girls attended was just them learning something that neither girl - except Weiss - would find useful in their future. First, there was science, which focused on the study of chemical reactions between elements. Then there was maths and it's all so confusing numbers of algebra, which Yang, could not understand for the life of her. After that, there was a short break before the students continued with art which took an awkward turn when Ruby painted a picture of her pet dog's butt. The teacher was less than thrilled by her obscene humour. Finally, there was physical education where the class was forced to play dodgeball, much to their dismay, as Yang was always able to come out the victor in every match due to her athletic build. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except for one thing.

Ruby was quiet. Too quiet. Normally she would walk into class with a cheerful smile and an optimistic mind, even if she did find most of the classes to be mind-numbingly boring. But other than her talk with her art teacher over her  _unique_  form of art and the amount of screaming and shouting she did during gym, she remained unnaturally silent. The reason for this was only known by Ruby herself. She was thinking about the outburst she had with her friends this morning. She was hoping that they would forgive her and never talk about what happened ever again, but she knew they would ask her about it and that would mean talking about her 'crush'.

These thoughts followed Ruby when she entered the school cafeteria. Like always, it was packed with a variety of students from every year, both Human and Faunus alike, all chatting to each other, either about upcoming exams or about the latest embarrassing rumour about a random student that someone was spreading around. That wasn't the kind of thing Ruby was interested in. She never liked telling anyone false information as it made her seem cruel and selfish, the last thing she wanted to be called.

A familiar smell assaulted Ruby's nose, a smell that could only be found in the canteen on a Friday. She looked in the direction of the kitchen to see the 'Meal of the Day' board, with today's special written on it, noodles served with tuna. It was a meal that made Ruby's mouth water. It wasn't her favourite food, however, nothing would topple her love for her mother's cookies, but it was still something she enjoyed. That didn't stop Ruby from worrying about the apology she would have to give to her friends as she grabbed a food tray from the rack, walked over to the food counter and came to a stop.

_'What is the best way to make up with them?'_ She thought to herself. _'Maybe I could do them favours. No, wait, I already help them with a lot of stuff already. Or I could treat them to something like a girls night out… but I don't have the money to pull something like that off. Perhaps I could-'_

"Are you going to just stand there and hold up the lunch line or are we going to get our food?"

Ruby was broken from her thoughts as she turned her head to see Weiss, Blake and Yang to her right, holding empty food trays in their hands and staring directly at her with looks of concern, comfort or seriousness on their faces. It took Ruby a few seconds to respond to Weiss' question.

"Oh. Y-yeah, right." She mumbled, finally moving from her place and allowing her friends to join the food counter queue. Ruby was given her noodles along with a carton of milk from the drinks section,

"So, you've been very quiet today." Weiss said bluntly, attempting to get Ruby to talk as she received her noodles and took a bottle of water from the counter.

"Is it a good thing to be quiet sometimes?"

"Yes, but not for you it isn't," Blake stated, taking her noodles along with some  _extra_  tuna - a common occurrence on Fridays - and a bottle of flavoured water. "You're usually loud, energetic and always talking to us about the newest weapons you found online. But you haven't spoken to us ever since this morning and you barely interacted with any of the other students. Is there something wrong?"

Ruby never answered Blake's question, looking anywhere but at her friends. She wanted to answer her, but she had to structure her answer carefully. One wrong slip of the tongue and who knows what her friends would say.

"Sis, you don't have to shut us out like this." Yang took her noodles and grabbed an energy drink to go with it. "We're your friends, you can share anything with us. So what's bothering you?"

She couldn't wait any longer. She  _had_  to answer her sister or she may overreact and think that she was unwell or something. With a little hesitation, she finally answered her sister's question. "Look, I'm sorry for what happened this morning. I didn't mean to shout at you guys like that. It's just…" Ruby paused as she headed to the collection of mostly filled tables with Weiss, Blake and Yang right behind her. She stopped again and turned to face them. "There's a lot going on in my head right now. Things that I don't really want to talk about right now."

Their faces read different expressions. Yang was smiling, practically grinning from ear to ear which scared Ruby. It was clear she knew what she was thinking of. Blake looked at her with a raised eyebrow, the bow on top of her head moving ever so slightly. She didn't know like Yang did, but she was curious about it. But Weiss' was the most interesting one, simply because her face hadn't changed a single bit like she already knew what Ruby was going to say before she said it.

"You don't have to apologise to us you know?" Ruby continued to focus on Weiss as she spoke. "We know you wouldn't act like that without a reason, and now we know why. We understand if you don't want to talk about it right now, but at some point, you are going to tell us what's on your mind. Promise?"

Weiss' cold blue eyes glared into Ruby's silver eyes. "Promise." Ruby replied, her eyes still locked onto Weiss. There was something oddly soothing when looking into Weiss' eyes, something that filled Ruby with a weird feeling in her stomach. While it was a common joke that a Schnee glare would freeze someone solid, it had the exact opposite effect on Ruby. It made her feel warm inside.

The stare between the two was broken when Yang growled loudly, catching their attention. "Blah, blah, blah. Enough of all this mushy talk! Let's find our table and eat already! I'm starving!"

Weiss rolled her eyes over Yang's impatient attitude while Ruby just smiled at her older sister. "She's not wrong, you know." Blake joined in as the group heard an audible growl coming from her stomach. "Come on. Our table is-"

"HEY GUYS, OVER HERE!"

The four girls winched at the loud voice shouting at them from across the cafeteria. Looking to its origin, they could see a girl with bright, short orange hair and bright blue eyes, standing from her seat with her arm stretched out waving, signalling for them to come over to her. She wore a white shirt with a pink heart on the front along with a skirt and belt to match, a dark navy blue jacket with pink detailing and puffy sleeves, pink and white striped socks that reached past her knees and a pair of dark navy blue sneakers to match her jacket.

The girls looked at each other, with Ruby giving them a simple shrug of her shoulders, and began moving closer to their bright-haired friend. As they got closer to her, they could see that she was sitting with three other students. The first was a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a black hoodie with a rabbit on the front of it, a pair of faded blue jeans and black trainers. He had a nervous frown on his face and was rubbing the back of his neck. Next to him was a girl with vivid green eyes and bright red hair, tied in a ponytail. She wore a dark orange tunic with a grey belt wrapped around her waist, dark grey tights and brown, high heel boots. She was looking at her currently still standing friend with an uneasy smile, showing that she was a bit embarrassed by her actions. The final figure was a boy with long, black hair with a single streak of pink in it and pink eyes. He wore a green, short sleeved jacket over a black t-shirt, a pair of black trousers and black dress shoes. He had his hand up to his head, shaking it in disapproval. He seemed to be the most embarrassed out of all of them.

"Nora, they know where our table is. You don't have to shout out for them every time we go for lunch." The boy said in a visibly annoyed tone.

"Oh Ren, what if they  _didn't_  remember where it was, huh?" Nora cheerfully retorted. "I mean, they could be suffering from amnesia for all we know."

The redhead held back a laugh before correcting her friend. "I don't think they would be in school today if they had amnesia, Nora."

"Oh." Nora's volume was a lot lower now as she spoke, finally sitting back down in her seat. "I could have been right."

"Well, we're standing right in front of you, so that means you're wrong." Weiss remarks, her voice sounding both annoyed and pleasant, as she and her friends took their seats at the table.

"So how are you guys doing?" The blonde boy asked. "Have your classes been as rough on you as ours were?"

"Not really, everything's been a-okay today, Jaune." Ruby explained before she felt Weiss bumping her arm. She turns to the heiress to see her staring at her with a look that said 'seriously?'. With that, Ruby turned back to Jaune and laughed awkwardly "Well, other than a few bumps here and there, it's been… normal."

"I wouldn't call 'being shouted at by the teacher normal." Blake's comment caused the others at the table to turn to Ruby for answers.

"It's not my fault that she didn't understand my vision!"

"Ruby, your idea of art is your dog's filthy behind!" Weiss angrily spat out with disgust in her voice.

"It's not a "behind"..." Ruby proceeds to open her school bag and rummage through it until she pulls out a highly detailed drawing of a black and white corgi from the back, with its butthole indicated by an 'X' below its tail. She shows the image to her friends and proudly smiles. "...It's a butt."

Silence was all she got from her friends, their faces trying to process what their eyes were looking at. They had to admit, it was very detailed drawing. A bit too detailed. But then again, it was drawn by Ruby, and she was younger than them. But for someone who skipped 2 years of school because of her smarts, she sure acts like a child sometimes.

"Well? What do think?" She chipperly asks, aiming her question to the redheaded girl first. "Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha continued to analyse the drawing for a few more seconds before her mouth curved into a straining smile. "Um…? I-it's very... creative, Ruby."

Ruby's face lights up in excitement as she joyfully squeals over Pyrrha's 'complement'. She looks over to Ren and Nora, waiting for their opinions.

"It's certainly a unique painting." Ren calmly remarks before taking a sip of his green tea.

"I like it!" Nora shouts out loudly, giving the thumbs up to Ruby's drawing. That usually meant you were given "Nora's Seal of Approval" which was… something at least, but it was always good to know that you had Nora by your side on something.

With a smug look of confidence on her face, Ruby turns back to Weiss and sticks her tongue out to her. "See, Weiss. Some people know what true art is."

Weiss rubs her forehead in frustration as she watches Ruby put her 'art' back into her bag. "To this day, I still can't believe that we are friends."

"Well, at least your having a decent day." Jaune grumbles as he takes a drink of his milkshake.

"What to tell us, Vomit Boy?" Yang asks curiously, showing interest in the boy's displeasure.

Jaune finishes his drink before taking a deep breath. It looked like he had a lot to get off his chest. "Ok, so ever since these tests have begun, they started off pretty simple and understandable. I mean, they're not pathetically easy, or overwhelmingly hard, they're in middle. I thought that they couldn't get any more difficult and that I would be able to blow through these in an instant." He pauses. "I was so wrong! I started getting incredibly difficult questions in my test papers that I think we haven't even covered in class! And yet, I ask Pyrrha, Ren and Nora and they say that the test was easy! Honestly, I think the teachers at this school must have something out for me because I swear they are giving me the toughest questions on purpose!"

"It can't be that hard Jaune." Yang stops eating her noodles to gesture towards Pyrrha. "I mean, you have Pyrrha, the smartest out of all of us here, personal teaching you to help with your studying."

"I know, but even with her help, I feel like I'm gonna flunk it no matter what."

Jaune looks down at his lunch as he pokes his fork into it absent-mindedly. Ruby couldn't help but understand what Jaune was going through. When she first met him, his grades were obscenely terrible, worst than any other student she had seen. It wasn't because Jaune was a bad boy who didn't care about an education, it was because he really struggled to pay attention in class. She and her friends tried to help tutor him, but he was in a completely different class from them which resulted in different studies that they didn't know a single thing about. It seemed like they needed a miracle to help improve Jaune's grades. Thankfully, one came.

One day, Jaune's class had a new student called Pyrrha Nikos. She was an exchange student from Mistral who had moved to Vale so that she could get the best education possible. Ironically, she chose to sit right next to Jaune in every class they were in, which meant the two would be partnered up for most tasks the teachers would give them. At first, Jaune didn't pay too much attention to Pyrrha, thinking she was just another smart girl being forced to work with the class idiot and that she didn't care for him. But over time, He soon realised that she was genuinely concerned about his grades and that she was perfectly fine about working with him as she found him incredibly likeable and honest. Eventually, Jaune asked Pyrrha if she would be his tutor so that he could hopefully bump his grades up by a few levels. Of course, Pyrrha accepted his offer. Thanks to her, Jaune's grades improved greatly, enabling him to pass every year of high school with ease. He didn't have the best grades in the class, but they were still passable. Not only that, but Jaune and Pyrrha became closer together as a result. It first started as them just being friends, but it then evolved into a full-on relationship. They have been dating for about two years now and the two's love for one another is still going strong.

Jaune stopped playing with his food when he felt his girlfriend's hand resting on his shoulder. He turned his head in her direction. "You have nothing to worry about Jaune. You have greatly improved over the last few years and there are no signs of you losing your education anytime soon. You just have to remember what I taught you and you'll be fine."

The gang watched as Jaune's confidence return to him in the form of a weak, but hopeful smile on his face.

"She's right Jaune." Everyone looked over to Nora who had a proud smile on her face. "Don't be so nervous! The worst that can happen is that you fail, which will lead to you walking around town with everyone knowing you're a failure, then all of your friends will abandon you so they won't also be seen as losers too, you will be forced to get a job at crummy business with below average pay, your family will despise you and kick you out when you can't afford rent, you'll then lose your job and find yourself sitting on streets asking for change and think to yourself 'Where did my life go so wrong'!"

The happy mood had all but broke thanks to Nora, as Jaune slumps over the table with a groan escaping his mouth. Everyone stared at Nora. She would always make any situation worse no matter what. All she had to do was open her mouth and let the absolute nonsense flow out of her like a waterfall. Eventually, she noticed the strange looks everyone was giving her and gave back her own.

"What? Too much?"

"Yeah. Way too much, Nora." Ren agreed with her, sounding completely unfazed from what just happened.

That was always the weird thing about Ren. For being such a quiet person who rarely displays his emotions, he sure knew how to handle and put up with Nora. It could be because the two were friends long before they met Ruby and co. , but even then it was surprising that he would be able to withstand her crazy and wild outbursts.

After a short period of silence, Blake decided to shift the topic to something else. "Look on the bright side Jaune, you only have two more weeks of these exams before graduation day and then you don't have to worry about another test for an entire year."

"Hooray for me then." Jaune muttered sarcastically, as he lifted himself off the table. "So how are the rest of you guys feeling about graduation?"

"Well, I'm still a bit nervous about the whole thing," Ruby quickly answered first. "But I'll get through it. All I have to do is walk up on stage when my name is called, grab my diploma, shake the principal's hand and smile for the camera."

"I don't think it will be that easy, Ruby." Pyrrha interjected. "You still have to pass the exams before you can earn your diploma."

"I wish it was that easy." Ruby pouted, crossing her arms in a pretend huff.

Blake smiled at the brunette's childishness, before returning to a more serious expression. "Still, It's definitely one of the most important moments in our lives. This is where we decide what we want to do with ourselves, what path we want to take, and who we want to bec-"

Yang Immediately interrupted her friend before she could finish."Well, I know that I'm going to start my graduation off with a  _Yang_! Eh? Guys?"

Yang's pun was received with a mixture of groans and held back chuckles from Nora, who was the only one to appreciate her jokes. If there was one thing to like about Yang's puns, it was that they always seemed to lighten the mood over a tense situation. After she was done groaning, Ruby swung her head towards her best friend. "What about you Weiss? How do you feel about graduation?"

As her eyes focused on Weiss, she noticed something off about her. She was stirring her fork through her half-finished noodles in a figure eight pattern, starting at it with eyes that were more focused on the noodles than her own friends, with a crooked frown plastered on her face. It looked like she was paying no interest in the conversation at all, in fact, it seemed she didn't even react to Yang's joke. Weiss would always be involved in a conversation with someone, even if the topic was of no interest to her, heck she would even enjoy these types of conversation. But this was a first. She had completely shut herself out from her friends. The only other time she did this was when she and Ruby first met. Something was wrong.

"Um… Weiss?"

Ruby pressed her hand on the girl's shoulder, her motions stopping as it happened. She broke her line of sight with the noodles and looked directly into Ruby's silver eyes with her own. They looked a lot duller than Ruby remembered, making them a bit more bluey-grey than the cold ice blue colour. It was almost like a rain cloud covering the clear blue sky. Suddenly, Weiss shook herself a little, like she just came back to reality and realised that Ruby was talking to her. "Oh. Um… Y-y-yeah. I-I'm looking forward to graduation."

She immediately returned to her noodles without hesitating. Ruby started to process what just happened in her head.  _'She stuttered.'_  she thought. ' _Weiss never stutters. The only time she does that is when she's nervous about something. And she is fidgeting with her food. She never does this either.'_  Her face started to fill with concern. Something was bothering Weiss, and she was hiding it from her friends. Why?

"Weiss are you ok? You seem... off." She asked the white-haired girl, who continued to fiddle with her food.

"I-I'm fine Ruby, I'm just thinking about something."

Ruby was about to ask her what exactly was she thinking, but she immediately halted that action when she realised that it was probably the best idea to leave Weiss' thoughts alone. ' _She's nervous about something, but I can't just expect her to tell me what it is. I'll just have to leave it for now, and if she's still thinking about it, I'll ask her later.'_  Ruby hid a smile as she thought of her plan. She wanted to know what was on Weiss' mind, but she would have to wait for the right time before she could explore her head. And besides, Weiss respected the privacy of Ruby's thoughts, so she should return the favour.

With that done, Ruby returned to her friends who were still wrapped up in their own conversation, something about sloths fighting each other in a pizza war, but she wasn't paying attention. She eventually joined in on the conversation and continued to eat her noodles, only stopping when she wanted to say something, but throughout it all, the thoughts about Weiss remained in her head. She couldn't stop thinking about it and she didn't want to stop. She wanted to find out what was going on in the Schnee's head, and she will… in time.

* * *

After Lunch was over, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang made their way to their final class of the day, history. It was time for the girls to face their next exam, and hopefully, they would get through it without any issues. Thankfully, the test was easy for the girls to deal with. Yang was the only one to somewhat struggle with the test, but even then, she was able to finish the test with minutes to spare. Surprisingly, Ruby was the first of the four to finish the test, with about 45 minutes left on the clock, but since she wasn't allowed to leave the class until the bell rang, she was stuck in a classroom with nothing to do. Luckily, she brought her sketchpad wherever she went, so she wasn't doomed to boredom just yet.

But as she started to press her pencil onto the paper, she couldn't help but think back to Weiss. She looked over to where she was sitting to see her still hard at work. She should've been finished by now if not before Ruby finished, but she was still at it, quickly scribbling down the answers to each question. It was clear that her nervousness from lunch had followed her to class and it was hindering her. When she did finally finish, Ruby returned her attention to her empty page to avoid getting started at by her.

When the bell finally rang, she put all of her school supplies back in her bag and slung it over her shoulders as she and her friends walked out the classroom.

"That's another day of school done and dusted!" Yang yelled out loudly, fist bumping the air as she did so. "I thought that this day would never end!"

"You say that after every school day." Blake interjected.

Yang crossed her arms and turned away from Blake dramatically. "Well, this time I mean it!"

"Sure sis, like the time you thought you could drink thirty shots in a row when you already had about five drinks beforehand." Said Ruby with an evil smirk on her face.

"So? I was able to do it!"

"No, you didn't. You thought you did, but in reality, you passed out after the tenth shot." Blake also had a smirk on her face, not as evil as Ruby's, but still a smirk nonetheless.

"Hey! I did not-" Yang stopped mid-sentence to think for a second. "Okay, you guys got a point." She shrugs her shoulders in agreement. Ruby and Blake laughed at the blonde until she wrapped her metallic arm around Blake's shoulders.

"So what are your plans for tonight, Kitty Kat?"

Blake rolled her eyes and groaned, her bow twitching again before she responded. "I was going to head to the town library, catch up on some homework I still have to complete and then head home for some reading. You?"

"Well, I'm heading down to the gym tonight and getting a workout going. Can't let this body get outta shape if you know what I mean." Yang flexed her left arm to her raven-haired friend who gave her a light smile. After she stopped flexing, she looked to her sister and walked in front of her to see her face. "I take it that you want a ride home, Rubes? I need to drop by the house anyway to pick up my gear."

"Yang, I'm not going home tonight. Don't you remember?" Ruby raised an eyebrow over Yang's question. She had forgotten again about what happens on a Friday night. She could see the blonde's brain at work as she removed her metal hand from Blake and began to rub her chin with it until she snapped her fingers upon realising what she meant.

"Oh yeah, that's right, I forgot! You're going over to Weiss' house, right?"

"Yeah, I go over there every Friday night so that we can study together. We compare notes, ask each other questions and after we're done, I get to watch Weiss practice her fencing."

"Um, Ruby, about that." She turned to her other side to see Weiss, who hadn't spoken until now. Her face wasn't happy in the slightest, it was in a depressing frown and her eyes were still in the same dull blue colour from before. She seemed hesitant to speak like she was afraid of what she might say may hurt Ruby's feelings, but she then opened her mouth and let her voice be heard. "I-I'm afraid that I am going to have to cancel our study session tonight."

Everyone stopped on the spot and faced the pale girl, all staring at her with the same look, a look that showed confusion. But Ruby's showed more than confusion. It showed worry, concern and worst of all: sadness.

"Why?" She asked quietly, the sadness evident in her voice.

Weiss looked down to the floor for a split second before she returned her gaze back to Ruby, this time with a look of guilt on her face. "I have other plans tonight that are more important than studying right now. Sorry, I hope you understand."

This was not right. Something was off with Weiss. First, she ignores her friends for the second half of the day, then she takes longer than usual to finish a test that she would have easily aced through, and now she was cancelling their study session over something "more important". She would never do that. She always made time for Ruby on Fridays, she would even reschedule her Friday activities just so the two could hang out together. So seeing her with a guilty look on her face when she spoke, made Ruby draw an answer from her head.

_'You're lying. You're lying to me, Weiss. You're trying to hide something from me, from us. Why though? What is scaring you so much that you have to hide it from everyone?'_

After standing in silence for a few seconds, Ruby faked a smile and nodded to the heiress. "I understand."

She could she Weiss' mouth turn into her own fake smile as she said, "Thank you, Ruby. I'll see you all on Monday morning." And with that, Weiss walked towards the exit of the school by herself without looking back. Ruby just stared at her, even after she was gone from her sight, as her smile faded into a frown. Her sister noticed this and attempted to cheer her up.

"Don't worry sis, you can't always have everything planned out the way you wanted." She wrapped her arm around her shoulder and pulled her into her side. "Come on, let's get you home before mom and dad get worried."

"Oh, I'm not giving up just yet." She broke away from her sister's grasp and turned to face her. "Something has been bothering Weiss since lunch, and it is causing her to act weird all of a sudden. I don't know what it is exactly, but it's bothering me now, and I need to know what did this. So I am going to Weiss' house. Whether she likes it or not."

"Ruby, she's probably just stressed out from everything that's going on right now. Just let her be alone for one Friday night and she'll come around on Monday."

"No, Yang." She shook her head in disagreement. "I can't ignore this. Weiss is the first friend I ever made in my life. She's my best friend, And best friends look out for one another, and if I just stand here while she clearly needs someone to help her overcome whatever's wrong, then I would be breaking a promise that I made with her a long time ago. So I'm going to see her, and that's final."

The tone in Ruby's voice was dead serious, causing the two sisters to stare at one another in silence like they were having an argument. It was incredibly unsettling for her, but she continued to stare down her older sister. Unexpectedly, Yang began to laugh with herself which made Ruby confused beyond belief. "What?"

Her grin never left her face as she tried to regain her composure. "Nothing, nothing. It's just… It's just…"

"Come on Yang, Spit it out!"

"It's just that you are clearly doing this just so you can spend some 'alone time' with your girlfriend so that you can confess your love for her." Yang went straight back to laughing, unable to hold it back any longer. This was the part of her that Ruby didn't like, the part of her that gets carried away with a joke and runs with it, not knowing that she's being incredibly rude in the process. She knew that she didn't mean it, but it still got on her nerves.

"I am not doing this because of a crush! I'm doing this because I feel like I have to!" Ruby shouted in annoyance, her face turning a bright red from both embarrassment and anger.

Yang flinched at her sister's anger as she stopped her intense laughing fit and pulled her hands up in front of her in defence. "Woah! Okay, Okay! I get it! Sorry! I'm just yanking your chain sis." She put out her hands and saw her sister's angry face being replaced with a forgiving smile. "So, you want me to escort you to the castle of your princess?"

"No. I'll take the scenic route." Ruby joked, letting out a small laugh as she began to walk away from the older girls, but not before facing them one last time and waving her arm in the air. " Bye Blake! See you back at home, Yang!"

Yang and Blake both waved back to her, with Yang waving with more energy than Blake. "Good luck, Rubes!" She shouted. With the encouragement from her sister, Ruby turned around and ran straight for the main entrance of the school, her legs running like they never ran before. She burst out of the door and into the outside world, feeling the wind smack against her face as she bolted to the gates. As she ran out onto the pavement, she began to mutter something to herself.

"Don't worry Weiss. Your best friend is on the way."

* * *

The warm light of the fireplace reflected off the cold, blue tiled floor and walls, bringing a warm feeling into the room. The room was wide and open, with only a few objects spread across the place, ranging from suits of armour to furniture that should belong in a castle. The windows revealed the evening sky as the light of the shattered moon shined through, add extra light to the dark hall. The walls were adorned with several paintings, most of them depicting people with white hair and blue eyes, others were just simple pieces of art put there for decoration. Even with all the decorations, the room still felt lifeless. The only living thing in there was Weiss, now wearing a pure white suit while holding a silver rapier in her left hand.

Weiss swiped her arm in a quick and swift motion, striking the dummy in front of her with her rapier. Out of all the hobbies that she enjoyed the most, fencing would be in Weiss' top three. There were many reasons as to why it was her favourite. The feeling of wind blowing right past her, the satisfaction of hearing her blade striking the enemy, the energy she felt with every moment of the activity, she could go on for hours. She continued to attack the training dummy with fast slices and stabs, but still maintaining her grace while doing so. She hadn't perfected the art of fencing yet, but she wanted to one day.

"That's enough."

With one last stab, Weiss retracted her blade from the dummy and rested the sword in front of her, placing both hands on the handle and having the tip of the blade touching the floor. She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she heard the sound of heels clicking against the marble floor approaching her. She turns to its source to see a woman with the same blue eyes and white hair as hers, except her hair was shorter and was tied up into a small bun on the back of her head. She wore a white business suit with some traces of blue from her undershirt showing itself from underneath and white high heels to make her taller than most men. She was standing with her back straight and her arms behind her, her face showing no emotion in any shape or form.

"Your form is on point, sister." The woman spoke in a professional manner, her voice sounding dominating, but also complementing. "I did, however, spot several mistakes you made during your training."

Weiss frowned as she took in her sister's words.  _'Imperfect again.'_  She thought. She looked to her sister with pleading eyes. "Sorry Winter, I'll keep practising."

Winter noticed the disappointment in her little sister's began to move closer to Weiss as her lips curved into a subtle smile. "No. That will be enough training for today."

Weiss mood brightened upon hearing the comforting tone of her sister's voice. That was something Weiss always liked about Winter, she knew when to be strict and when to be caring for her. It was one of many traits about her that let her know that she was looking out for her, and who wouldn't be after all the trouble they went through back in Atlas years ago.  _'No. I must not remember those time.'_  Weiss shook her her head. She didn't want to dwell on the past for too long, it would bring back unpleasant memories. Memories of being controlled by her father, memories of being under constant threats from Faunus, memories of sitting in her room with no one to talk to. Memories of being alone.

"So, How was school today? Did you enjoy it?" Weiss

"It was a pretty uneventful day." She replied. "Well, Ruby was acting weird for some reason, but we sorted it out and she was back to her normal, upbeat self."

"Hm, Interesting." Winter looked out the window as she thought about something, leaving a small silence between the two. She turned back to her with curiosity over her face, an expression that she rarely showed. "Speaking of Miss Rose, isn't she supposed to be here with you right now? If I'm not mistaken, today is a Friday, correct?"

Weiss immediately froze on the spot at the question. She could remember the look on Ruby's face when she told her that she was cancelling their study session tonight, and. She didn't want to hurt her feelings, but she needed some time alone to think. She noticed the odd look that Winter was giving her and realised she hadn't answered her question. She needed to think of a lie that would not throw suspicion on her. After thinking for a few quick seconds, she came up with one. "Oh, she had other plans tonight, something to do with her sister."

She saw her sister raise an eyebrow at her answer. "Really?" she asked surprisingly. " I thought she was free this week."

"Well, apparently she decided to mix things up for this week." Weiss angrily huffed out, looking directly at Winter's face.

Weiss saw her sister's less than happy face stare right through her. She could tell that she wasn't buying her lies. She knew Winter wasn't so easily fooled when it came to lying, that was because of her position as the head of Schnee Tech, which required her to understand the methods of running a business correctly. She had faced with multiple CEOs of rival companies and was able to determine if they would hold up to their deals by listening to the sound of their voices. Weiss was no exception.

"Weiss, what's really going on?" Winter's voice was strict and ruthless as it echoed throughout the room. No answer came from Weiss as she stared at the floor. She didn't want to talk her reasons for isolating herself from her friends, at least not yet. She needed time to think about it, time to herself and not with her sister. The cold silence was broken by the sound of a ringtone. Winter reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll. The light of the device reflected on her face, showing the stern expression she still had on her face. A sigh escaped her mouth as looked back to Weiss. "I have to take this call. When I get back, I expect you to tell me the truth and nothing more. Do I make myself clear?"

The younger sibling only nodded at her question. With nothing more to add, Winter made her way to the large double doors that lead out into the hallway of the house. She opened the door and promptly closed it behind. Weiss' anger left her once her sister left the room. She turned to face the fireplace and took a few steps closer to it, still holding her rapier with both hands.

She looked above herself to see the family portrait of herself, her sister and her parents hanging over the fireplace. Seeing the image just reminded her of her childhood, growing up in Atlas, surrounded by people who acted like they were the happiest people in the world, but Weiss knew that it was all but lies. It was a joyless, dull experience for her to go through, all thanks to her father. She never liked her parents, not one bit. Her father was cold and harsh, never showing any emotion other than anger and her mother was just a trophy wife, only caring about gossip and fashion, and not caring or feeling concerned for her daughters. Winter was the only family member she could fully trust, but back then, she knew that she would have no control over her life. That was until the incident occurred.

She raised her hand and lightly stroke the scar that was etched over her left eye. It was a reminder of the day that changed her whole life. She could remember every detail from that day, the blood that ran across her face and the floor, the sight of her parents lifeless bodies lying in a pool of their own blood, and the image of a man wearing a white mask, wielding a blade that was soaked in red, standing over her dead parents. All Weiss could do that day was stare. She was too shaken up by the ordeal that she lost her will to speak for a week. It was too much for her to take in. She watched her own parents being murdered right in front of her and was left with something that she couldn't hide from. She closed her eyes, attempting to hold back the tears that we're building up inside her. "Why do you have to be there? Why do you haunt me?" She whispered, her grip on her rapier tightening.

"Weiss?"

Without a second thought, Weiss swung herself around so that she was facing the intruder. She raised her rapier so that the blade was pointing straight at them, only inches away from their neck. She was about to shout at them in hopes of scaring them off but couldn't bring herself to do it when she noticed that the person in front of her had red tipped hair and silver eyes.

"Weiss, it's me, Ruby!" The girl shouted, raising her hands in defence. Upon realising her mistake, Weiss lowered her weapon, leaving the frightened girl to relax since she wasn't being threatened, but making her feel the blood in her body boil.

"Ruby, you dolt!" she yelled. "You shouldn't sneak up on someone who is armed with a weapon! I thought you were an intruder! I could have killed you!"

She watched as Ruby nervously rubbed the back of her neck. "I thought you would recognise the sound of my voice and… well… you know? Not attack me."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Well next time, try knocking before you just come barging into my home unannounced!" She saw Ruby's face drop into an upsetting frown due to her shouting. Realising what she had done, she took a deep breath to calm herself. She hated seeing Ruby like this. Seeing her get upset made her want to get upset as well, she hated it even more if she was the one who caused it. She walked away from her friend and to an empty stand where her rapier would be if not in use. She placed said weapon back but didn't move from her spot. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought I told you that I was busy tonight."

"That's actually the reason why I'm here." She turned to face her with curiosity plaguing her eyes. "You've been acting weirdly today, and I don't mean you almost stabbing me with a sword." The brunette let out a chuckle from her joke before she continued speaking. "Ever since lunch, you have been completely uninterested in everything around you, pushing yourself away from the conversation and going into your own little world. Then you go and lie to me about tonight. It has me concerned, so I came over anyway. I wanted to see if you needed to talk it out with someone, like me, your super bestie."

Keeping her face as straight as possible, Weiss walked closer to the silver eyed girl and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Ruby, I appreciate your concern for me, but I've already told you I'm fine. I'm just stressed out from all the-"

"Cut the bullshit, Weiss. I know you're hiding something from me." Ruby interrupted, grabbing Weiss' arm and lifting it off her shoulder. "Something has been bothering you, and you've been hiding it from everyone. They can't see it, but  _I_  can. So please, tell me whats wrong.

The heiress pulled her arm out of Ruby's grip. "I keep telling you, I'm fine!"

"No your not! You're ignoring the problem!"

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are!" Weiss was taken aback by the shouting that Ruby was doing. This was the loudest she had ever been, but it wasn't filled with anger, it was more like worry. "Why can't you just tell me whats wrong? Don't you trust me?"

That last question caused Weiss to gasp in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did Ruby really think that she didn't trust her? Was she hurting her because of that? "Of course I trust you! It's just that… that… that, urgh!" She grasped her head in frustration and turned away from Ruby, walking away from her. Her mind was racing with too much information that she didn't know what to say. A part of her wanted to tell the truth, another wanted to continue to hide it. She couldn't do anything, she was hopelessly lost.

"Weiss, do you remember the promise we made together when we were kids?" She heard the girl's words and stopped moving. How could she forget that promise. "We promised each other that if any one of us, whether it was me, you, Yang, Blake or even one of our own families is struggling with something that they can't overcome, we would help them in any way we can. But I can't help you if don't tell me what that problem is. So I'm gonna say it again." She turned around to see that Ruby had moved closer to her and was trying to hold together a sympathetic smile. "What's the matter, Weiss? What are you so worried about?"

As Weiss stared into her silver orbs, she felt a strange feeling wash over her body, a feeling of comfort that she never felt before. The more she looked at Ruby, the stronger that feeling became. She felt like all the troubles in her mind had washed away and it was all because of Ruby. She didn't know what it was about her that made her feel this way, but it gave her the confirmation that she could trust Ruby with her troubles.

"I'm scared." She whispered.

"Scared of what?"

The ivory haired girl looked out the window, rearranging her thoughts and thinking about her next words. "When you guys were talking about graduation back at school, it made me realise something." Ruby waited in anticipation as Weiss returned her gaze to her. "When you and the others leave school, you will all be able to choose whatever career path you desire. My path, however, has already been chosen for me. My path is to become the CEO of Schnee Tech, just like Winter."

"I thought you wanted to take over the company?" Ruby asked, scratching her head in confusion.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I still dream of taking control of the family business one day." She reassured her friend with a smile before it turned into a frown. "It's just… in order for me to take up the title of CEO, I need to learn directly from Winter because it is such a responsibility, which means I can't go to college, or spend time with friends." She paused and looked down at her hands. "You see, Ruby. I'm afraid that after graduation is done, I'll be forced to stand by my sister's side and be told what to do, just like my childhood. I'm afraid that I will have to abandon my only friends just to live my dream. I'm scared that I'll be alone again."

Her speech left her shaking. Just speaking about her issues was making her even more scared, scared of what her friends would think when they saw what the richest girl in their school was breaking down over. Her shaking stopped when she saw Ruby's hands grab hold of her own. She looked up and saw her with a smile that let her know that she understood what was wrong.

"That's nothing to be afraid of Weiss." Ruby comfortingly said. "Winter is nothing like your father. She wouldn't force you to do something that you're not keen on unlike him, and just because you won't be able to hang with us as much as you like, doesn't mean that you will never see us again." Her grip on Weiss' hands grew stronger as she paused for a moment. "But most importantly, you will never be alone. Not now and not anytime soon. Even if all friends had to leave us, even if you have to move to a whole other country, I will be there for you Weiss, because you are my friend, My first and best friend."

Weiss could feel the tears running down her cheeks. Ruby's little talk had caused her to let her emotions out. She couldn't believe how much she really cared for her. It was more than anyone had ever shown her, more than Winter. It made her heart pump. She noticed that Ruby's face was back to its concerned look from before. "Weiss, are you ok? Your crying."

Suddenly, Weiss wrapped her arms around the younger one and pulled her into a tight hug, resting her head on her shoulder. Ruby soon embraced her friend's hug and patted her back.

"Thank you, Ruby" She whispered into her ear, still sobbing tears of joy. "Thank you for being a true friend."

"It's ok Weiss. What are friends for."

The red and white duo stayed locked together for what Weiss thought were hours, never loosening their grip on each other, she didn't want to. After all the stress and worry over her own future, she needed this. Out of nowhere, Ruby let out a loud gasp and pulled out of the hug, but still holding onto Weiss' shoulders. "I've just had the best idea ever!" She said excitedly.

"What is it?" Weiss asked with raised eyebrows.

She took a step back "Well since we've lost our study time this week and you still feel uneasy about the whole "graduation" thing, Why don't we drop the studies for now and have a girls day out tomorrow?"

Weiss was caught by surprise over Ruby's change in tone. One minute ago, she was quiet, comforting and accepting, now she was loud, happy and filled with confidence. All she could say was, "A girls day out?"

"Yep. Just the two of us." Ruby proudly proclaimed, placing her hand on hips. The action caused Weiss to giggle her face turned a bright red and wave her arms in front of her vigorously. "But it's not a date! I mean, I know what I said makes it sound like a date, but it's not! It's just going to be a hang out type thing between us! That is if you want to go out?"

The Schnee came back into her thoughts. _'A day out in town with Ruby? That sounds like a good idea, and it's probably the best idea that she has ever come up with.'_  Most of the time, Ruby would come up with plans for different activities that she and her friends could do together. Weiss would disagree with most of them, seeing them as rough, unladylike or just plain barbaric, but there were some that she found enjoyable like the time they went ice skating or the time they started a food fight in the school canteen; which she surprisingly enjoyed. This was the just the thing she needed to eliminate her fears for good.

She smiled and returned her attention back to Ruby."I like the sound of that."

Ruby practically jumped with excitement, her happiness levels literally going through the roof. "Great! Then it's settled! Ruby and her best friend Weiss are going on a girls day out in Vale town centre tomorrow!"

The silver eyed girl's cheering was halted when she saw Weiss with crossed arms and a stern expression. She quickly composed herself and straightened herself out, realising that she was being obnoxiously loud. Another bout of silence settled between them until Ruby spoke up.

"Um… I better get going. Mom and dad are expecting me back really soon." She awkwardly said. Weiss kept her eyes locked on her as Ruby made her way to the door that she came in from. As she opened the door, Ruby turned back around. "See you tomorrow?"

"Goodnight, Ruby. See you tomorrow."

With one last smile, Ruby exited the room, leaving Weiss to think about the talk they just had. She wondered how would tomorrow play out. Maybe she could go shopping for some new clothes, or maybe she and Ruby could go see a movie together, or perhaps they could visit the art galleries. As she thought of all the things she could get up to tomorrow, she felt a strange build up in her stomach every time she thought of Ruby. It weirded her out beyond belief. Why was Ruby causing these feelings to surface? What was it about her that made her heart pump? All these emotions made her cheeks blush heavily and brought a smile to her face.

"I think that went rather well, don't you say?" A voice came from behind her, sounding like it was trying to make a joke. She turned around to see Winter, standing in a professional manner, but with a smile across her face. Weiss' brain suddenly clicked when she realised what her sister had done.

"You let her in, didn't you?" She asked sceptically.

"I thought it would get you to open up and I was right." Winter knew how Weiss works. She would always express her troubles with her whenever she needed her assistance, but sometimes, she needed support from someone other than her sister, and Ruby was the right person for the job.

Weiss lowered her head in guilt. She just remembered how she talked with Winter before Ruby came in and how rude she was to her. She already knew what she had to say next. "Look, Winter. I'm sorry for snapping at you before. I had a lot of things on my mind and it was getting to me."

"That's okay Weiss. You were troubled and you needed someone to talk it out with. Thankfully, you have someone who trusts you for who you are on the inside, not on the outside." Weiss raised her head back up and faced her sister to see she still had that smile on her face. To be honest, it creeped her out, she never seen her smile this much for this long."Come. Dinner is just about ready."

The two sisters began to walk out of the room and down the hallway of the manor, heading for the dining room where their supper was waiting for them. During their walk through the house, Winter asked her sister a question. "So, you and Miss Rose are going into town tomorrow?"

"Yes. that is correct." Weiss responded, still keeping her eyes focused on the hall in front of her.

"Well, I hope it shows you that you have plenty of control over your life, sister." Winter stated. Weiss could tell that Winter was concerned over her fears, but she was still hoping that she would overcome them herself one day. Weiss hoped she would too. "May I ask you to do a small favour while you are out tomorrow?"

"Sure, what do you want?" Weiss replied. It was sometimes common for her to run some errands for her sister, due to her busy work schedule. She didn't mind it much, as she found it to be just helping her sister deal with her own stress. She didn't show it at all, but Weiss knew she still feels the same problems that she had.

Winter looked down at her little sister, but still keeping an eye on where she was going."Come to Schnee Tower first thing tomorrow. And bring Miss Rose with you as well."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you when you get there." Weiss stopped walking as Winter continued to walk down the hall. This was weird. Winter never kept big secrets from her unless there were meant to surprise her. She resumed her stride to catch up with her, but now with thoughts of this big surprise that her sister was planning. Only one question popped into her head.

_'What are you planning, sister?'_


	3. Raging Emotions

"Come on Ruby, we're going to be late!" Weiss angrily barked as she dragged a sleep-deprived Ruby by the arm through the empty corridors of the building.

"Urgh, Weiss, what's the big hurry?" She groaned, trying to keep herself from tripping over her own feet. "We have all the time in the world for our outing today. Couldn't we have come over a little bit later?"

"I promised Winter that we would meet her at Schnee Tower first thing this morning, and I will not disappoint her all because of your sheer laziness!"

Ruby didn't have the energy to give a suitable retort back at her friend; her body still stuck in sleep mode. Weiss had come over to the Rose/Xiao Long household earlier than expected - 9:30 exactly - to meet up with her before they headed out for Vale. The heiress was more than a little annoyed when she entered Ruby's room only to find her sprawled across her bed, tangled in its sheets and fast asleep. She wasted no time in pulling the sheets right off the bed, sending a screaming Ruby straight to the floor. After she had recovered from her fall, Ruby was forced to rush through her morning routine at Weiss' request. This meant she had to quickly hop in the shower for a quick wash, eat a plain breakfast of cereal and toast, and miss out on her mother's cookies, which when she found out, made her look like a kicked puppy. When they left the house, She was still tired; constantly falling asleep on the bus on the journey to Schnee Tower. She wished that Weiss had come over a little later in the day, just so she could get a little bit more shuteye before today's plan.

And yet, here she was, being dragged by a grouchy heiress through the halls of the biggest building within the city at 10:05 in the morning. Whatever her big sister wanted to show them, it  _better_  be worth it.

The two came to a stop as they stood in front of a massive, heavily locked, steel door. It was three times bigger than either of girls and was heavily guarded by several security cameras and two robotic guards holding rifles in their arms. Schnee Tech was very protective of its products, keeping them locked away during testing to stop them from being stolen by competing companies. If just one of their secret projects was leaked to another tech firm, it could mean a huge financial loss for the company. Both Ruby and Weiss flinched when they heard a strict, monotone, robotic voice.

_"HALT. HIGH-LEVEL PERSONNEL ONLY. PLEASE PROVIDE IDENTIFICATION."_

After she had realised where the voice had come from, Weiss let out a sigh and pulled a card out of her handbag and raised it to a blue panel on the door. A small blue flash happened, the screen changed to a bright green and made a 'ding' sound as the robot voice spoke again.

_"IDENTITY CONFIRMED. WELCOME MISS SCHNEE."_

The door began to make several odd noises for a few seconds before it slowly began to open up from different directions. Ruby stared at it in awe, most of her grogginess from this morning now gone. This was the first time she was allowed into a highly restricted area and she couldn't wait to see what kind of tech was the company was working on, mostly the weapons. She couldn't touch them or talk about them once she was out of the building. If she did, she would be taken away by the military and sent to prison for life. She believed that Weiss was joking when she said that, but the girl simply stayed quiet; not even saying a 'Just kidding' or anything. Just silence.

The crimson-clad girl was brought out of her ogling stare by the sound of Weiss snapping her fingers right in her face. "Hello! Remnant to dolt!"

She looked at Weiss, only to see a scowl looking right back at her. It was clear to the young girl that she was trying to talk to her when she was zoning out over the door a minute ago, which had finally fully opened.

"Huh? What were you saying, Weiss?" She asked cluelessly

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head slowly. "I was warning you that you're about to enter the most highly guarded and technologically advanced sector of the whole building, so here's a word of advice," Weiss inched a little bit closer to Ruby, glaring daggers at her. The look made her seem that she was issuing a death threat or something. "Do. Not. Touch.  _Anything._ "

With a quick shake of the head and some time to process the warning, Ruby took a step back, giving the ivory-haired girl an old fashion salute. "No need to worry, Weiss. As long as I still have two thumbs, nothing in that lab will be broken, shattered, damaged or incinerated by the time we leave."

"We shall see." Weiss scoffs as she and Ruby walk through the space where the giant steel door once was and into the experimentation area.

As Ruby was walking down the path, the doors she just came through closed behind her, She noticed just how enormous the lab was. The entire room was all white from top to bottom; the only other colours being the black and yellow of warning lines across the floor to signify hazardous areas, and the light blue of a snowflake; the emblem of Schnee Tech, plastered on some products and the walls. There was a bunch of different scientist and engineers wearing lab coats scattered across the lab, huddled around several different projects. One group was handling multi-coloured crystals and powders, another was working on what seemed to be the bare skeleton of a jet engine. All of it was highly fascinating to Ruby while Weiss didn't bat an eye to her surroundings. She had been in this place more times than she can count.

The two continued through the lab before they spotted Winter standing not far from the entrance to the robotics section of the lab. She was scanning the entire lab from where she was, either to keep an eye on her employees or to look out for them.

"Winter!" Weiss shouted as she made her way to her sister with Ruby not far behind. The sharply dressed businesswoman turned to face her oncoming sister, a smile subtly appearing on her face. Both girls came to stop in front of the CEO and waited for her to speak.

"Good morning, sister. I apologise for not being home when you woke up, I had to handle some classified business before your arrival." Winter exclaimed. She turned to face Ruby, noticing the look of pure amazement across her face. "And Miss Rose, you seem to be… very entranced by our productions."

"You don't even know the half of it." Ruby was too busy gawking over the tech around her to acknowledge the elder Schnee properly. When Weiss loudly coughed, she slung her head in Winter's direction. Her eyes widened when she realised how rude her response sounded. "Oh! Um… sorry. You wanted us for something important?"

"Yes, come with me." Winter turned and walked into the robotics area of the lab. Ruby and Weiss exchange a look between one another before following Winter through the robotics lab. As they caught up with her, she looked back at them and asked them a question. "Did the two of you notice our security droids at the entrance when you came in?"

"You mean the scary looking robots out front?" Ruby confusedly asked, pointing her thumb over her shoulder.

"They're not scary, you dunce." Weiss huffed out in annoyance; arms crossed.

"Yes they are, they have no face for crying out loud!"

"They're military robots. They are not supposed to look all cute and cuddly!"

"Yes, our knights are definitely "scary", Miss Rose," Winter assured, causing Ruby to smugly grin and Weiss to be left dumbstruck that her sister had taken Ruby's side in the argument. "Which is why we are updating the latest models with brand new designs and technology to make them less "scary". But that's not the reason why I asked you two to come here today."

"Then what are we here for?"

Winter didn't answer her sister as she came to a sudden stop; soon followed by the two girls. Confused as to why they stopped, Ruby and Weiss looked in front of them and found their answer. Resting right before them was a cylindrical metal container that was hooked up to several computers with screens clogged with numerous lines of code. Stationed at every computer were more scientists, their fingers clacking against the keyboards, and several more working on the pod itself.

" _That_  is what you're here for." Winter said, gesturing her hand to the metal container.

The strange metal object brought a look of bewilderment on both girls faces. Neither could wrap their brain around exactly what they were looking at; especially Ruby. She had never before seen something so mysterious or so primitive looking in the hands of the most brilliant minds in the whole of Remnant. She didn't know if she was supposed to be amazed or frightened by it.

"What in the name of dust is that?" Weiss asked.

"This, my dear sister, is the next step for technology." The younger Schnee raised her eyebrows in interest. "Ever since it's founding by our grandfather, Schnee Tech has always strived to create a stronger and safer tomorrow with every leap in technology we make. But our more recent developments have been solely focused on military causes which have helped protect the citizens of multiple cities around the world, but not with the public directly. So we decided to take a different path to our goal, a path that will rebuild our reputation as the most dependable and efficient tech firm across the globe. A path that will lead to a brighter future."

The mind of Ruby Rose was clogged with all sorts of questions, some she would probably never get an answer to if she asked them, but one was able to pass through her lips. "The future of Schnee Tech Industries... is a big metal chamber?"

A small chuckle was heard from Winter, amused over the silver-eyed girl's obliviousness. "Oh no, Miss Rose, the future of our company is inside the chamber."

"Oh... I knew that." Ruby smiled awkwardly. She looked past Winter to see an extremely irritated Weiss glaring at her like she was about walk over to her and strangle the life out of her. The stare was broken when Ruby noticed the older Schnee had turned slightly to face directly toward her.

"And you are going to be the first person to interact with it."

Both girls were taken aback by the businesswoman's follow up. Weiss was the most shocked between them; the angry glare from before now replaced with a puzzled look directed towards her Sister. "You want her to do what?!"

"I want Miss Rose here, to be the first person outside the company to test our latest invention." She replied, her voice still calm and stern.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Winter." Ruby began to poke her two fingers together sheepishly. "I am not what you would call a tech wiz."

"Nonsense, Miss Rose. I have full faith that you will be able to comfortably handle the situation. Now would you kindly stand over by the chamber and wait there please?" The small redhead hesitated for a second, but ultimately followed the CEO's instructions. She wasn't afraid of Winter getting angry with her, as she would never have shouted at her for denying a request. No, she was more afraid of how Weiss would react to her decision. Most likely she would scold the young girl for disobeying her sister's orders, even if she was completely against them.

Speaking of Weiss, she was currently following Winter to a row of computer consoles where several scientists were working away with whatever they were working on. One of the scientists - presumably the head of the department - swivelled round in his chair to face the approaching Schnee sisters. "Is everything prepared?"

The man nodded. "Yes, Ma'am. All systems are online and fully operational."

"Good. Bring her online."

With no hesitation, the chief turned back to his console and hacked away at his keyboard before hitting the enter key. The sudden sounds of fans whirling and metal clanking together caused Ruby to seriously consider why she came here. Multiple parts of the chamber began to glow in a bright neon green along with some wires running from it to the computers. All of the other workers that were working on the pod when she first saw it was now standing far back from it, making Ruby the closest person to the metal monstrosity standing before her.

_***THUNK*** _

The front panel of the chamber suddenly popped out with no warning and slowly began to separate from the centre. As it was opening, a cold, eerie fog crept out of the chamber, obscuring the inside of it, rendering whatever was resting inside unseeable. If Ruby wasn't terrified before, she definitely was now. She felt like she was right in the middle of a horror movie, and she felt like she was the character who was always the first to be killed off.

_'Oh no oh no oh no oh no! What's happening?!'_  She panicked in her head, slamming her eyes shut out of pure fear.  _'Is it supposed to do that?! Am I going to die?! What are they keeping in there?! A four-headed Human eating monster?! A gateway to another dimension?! Or… or… or..."_

"Salutations, fellow human!"

All of the chaos running through her brain just seemed to stop when a loud and cheerful greeting ran straight through her ears. With a bit of hesitation, Ruby slowly opened her eyes and was met with something that caught her off guard.

There, standing a few feet in front of her, was what looked to be a Human girl with short, curly, bright orange hair, gazing directly at her with bright green eyes and an unintentionally creepy smile across her face. Her clothes looked a bit old-fashioned, consisting of a beige long-sleeved blouse, a dungaree dress that was a slightly faded green, black stockings with a single green line running up the side and black schoolgirl shoes that blend in with her stockings. The thing that stood out the most from her was the bright pink bow that rested at the back of her head, contrasting with the colour of her hair. Ruby just stared at the out-of-place girl with shock and confusion.  _'...Or it could be a teenage girl?'_

"Excuse me miss, are you ok?" The girl in green asked politely, her smile still not disappearing as spoke. "My sensors indicate that you are troubled by something."

"Ummm…?" Ruby turned away from the weird girl to look at the two Schnee's behind her. Weiss' expression was the exact same as Ruby's, if not even more surprised than her while Winter's was still the same as when they first arrived. She nodded her head to Ruby, suggesting that she speak to her. Ruby turned back to the still smiling guest in front of her. "Y-y-yes. I'm fine, just having trouble taking all of this in." She paused, to rub the back of her head. "Hey, I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but who or what are you?"

"Oh. I'm sorry. Allow me to introduce myself." The girl took a step back and holding her hands together in front of her. "I am your Personal Emergency Nursing & Nurturing Youth, but you may call me P.E.N.N.Y." The girl called Penny didn't change the tone in her voice once. It was starting to bring back the creepiness from earlier. Ruby did always thought it was a good thing to be incredibly happy occasionally, but this constant high from the girl was too much, even for her.

"Well Penny, I'm Ruby. It's nice to meet you." She moved her right and offered to shake hands with her newly introduced friend. A decision that she would regret making.

In an instant, Penny's right arm slung forward, grabbed Ruby's hand and proceeded to violently shake the poor girl. Her grip on her hand was as tight as a knot, and the rapid up and down motions she was doing made it feel as though she was going to rip her arm off. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Ruby!"

When she finally ended her handshake, Ruby immediately pulled her arm back to her side and proceeded to rub her sore shoulder with her free hand. The girl had some seriously strong muscles, or more accurately, motors. Every time she moved or touched her right shoulder, she could feel the pain stinging through her bones. Today was supposed to be a relaxing trip into town with Weiss, and now they're going to have to make a slight detour to the hospital before they could do anything. Ruby sighed. Just her luck.

"I see that you are getting along quite well with our Healthcare Droid, Miss Rose." She turned around to see both Winter and Weiss approaching them, with the latter showing curiosity, shock and disbelief over her face.

"Healthcare Droid? She almost ripped Ruby's arm off by the look of things!" Weiss said, her face taking the form of a grimace, her mind most likely playing out the scene in her head.

Winter let out a timid laugh before continuing. "Fortunately for Miss Rose, Penny here is unable to inflict serious harm to any living creature. The closest she can do is incapacitate them for a short period."

"S-serious harm?" Ruby put heavy emphasis on 'serious'. She was genuinely curious as to how dangerous this Penny person was. If dislocating her shoulder wasn't considered a major injury, then what was?

"You see, our goal when creating Penny was to engineer a robot that not only could be considered the perfect companion to any citizen, but also a guardian to them as well. So we designed her to look and act like an ordinary human girl. She has a lightweight titanium skeleton, making her strong and durable against any type of attack that would wound a normal human, and this is covered in a layer of synthetic skin to make her appear more friendly and "less scary" than our other robots. But most importantly, Penny's head holds a supercomputer brain that can hold hundreds of years worth of medical research data along with some combat manoeuvres and personality data. She is the very first robotic life form to think, feel and act of her own accord."

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. Once again, she wasn't paying attention to anything that was being said. Although almost having your entire arm ripped off by a handshake from a robot would do something like that to a person. Normally, this would be the moment where Weiss would scold her for getting distracted for the second time today, but she was too busy being just as confused as she was. Thankfully, Winter noticed both of their looks and directed her attention to Penny.

"Hmm… perhaps a demonstration is in order." She took her hands from behind her back and brought them in front of her, clapping them together twice. "Penny?"

The android leans to her side to get the businesswoman in her view. "Yes, Miss Schnee?"

"Would you please scan Miss Rose for us?"

"Certainly." Penny saluted. She straightened herself out and her eyes began to glow a bright green as she stared directly at Ruby, her head pivoting up and down the girl's body for a few seconds. Soon, the glowing from Penny's eyes ceased and sighted on Ruby's face, pointing a finger at her right shoulder. "It would appear that you are suffering from a minor dislocated joint in your left shoulder."

"Yeah, I wonder how that happened." Ruby muttered sarcastically.

"I believe the cause of your dislocation was my rather vigorous handshake. I sincerely apologise for any harm I may have inflicted on you. Allow me to mend your shoulder." Penny closed the gap between her and Ruby. She then proceeds to place both hands on her patient's shoulder, one on top of it and another to the side.

"No, Penny it's fine you don't have to do thaAAAAAAAT!" The crimson-haired girl's sentence turned into a slightly painful yet satisfying scream. She returned her arm back to her sore shoulder to discover that it was no longer hurting, in fact, it felt really good. It seemed that Penny had popped her shoulder back into place and she didn't even use any surgical tools to do it, just her two bare metallic, skin covered hands. She looks back to her doctor and smiles. "T-thank you, Penny."

"Just doing my job, Ruby." Penny gave out another salute. Ruby was starting to like this girl. She was almost like her in some ways. Happy, energetic, the need to help others, it was all there. But there was also a difference between them. Penny seemed to be a very curious robot, with the way she scanned her. She would be happy to call Penny her friend. There was one thing that was bothering her more than anything else, however.

That smile. It was still the same one that had greeted her when she first laid eyes on her. It hadn't changed at all and it was getting way too uncomfortable to look directly at looked like a serial killer, which isn't a very good image for a robot whose main purpose is to protect and heal the sick and innocent. With uneasiness in her throat, Ruby let her thoughts be heard."Um, Penny? Can you stop smiling like that? It's really starting to creep me out."

Before Penny could give an answer, Winter took a step forward, gaining Ruby's attention. "Unfortunately, that is one problem that none of our top scientists or engineers are able to fix."

"How is it a problem?" Weiss asked her sister who was walking past Ruby to stand right next to the medical droid.

"For some inexplicable reason, our scientists are unable to program any emotions into Penny's personality chip. As a result, she only knows how to express one single emotion, that being joy. And while it is important for Penny to be able to express happiness when attending to her companion, she needs to know how to express all types of emotion so that she can be more human than robot. The only solution to fixing this flaw is for Penny to learn these emotions manually." She glances down at Penny who remained looking straight at the teenagers in front of her. After a moment, Winter returned her gaze to them. "That is second reason why I asked the two of you to come here today."

Both girls were now confused more than ever. They shared a glance between each other, looking for signs of understanding what Winter meant, of which they got no indication. Weiss lifted her eyebrows in curiosity. "And that would be?"

"I want the two of you to take Penny into town and help her learn how to act like a normal human being."

"You want us to take a highly top secret robot into a highly populated city and let it experience human life out in the open?" Weiss asked in disbelief. Her sister only replied with a nod, which only raised more questions. "Why us? Why not get one of the scientists to do it?"

"They are needed here, to help continue progress on our other projects and developments. Also, I believe that it would help if Penny was with people who were around her apparent age, and it may help her understand emotions faster. Also, I trust you to teach her how to have fun as well." Winter said the last part with a small smile, making Ruby's eyes to sparkle with ideas and wonder. But Weiss just stared. Stared at her and Penny with a hard working, concentrating face.

She began to think about the whole thing. This was a big ask from her sister, something that would be difficult to complete. She hadn't gotten involved with any of the projects at her company before due to them being too advanced for a young girl to understand, but this was just too big a leap for her to take. Her stupor broke when she felt someone pulling on her arm. She looked to she Ruby who pulled her arm again, telling her that she wanted to tell her something. She leaned her head closer to Ruby so she could hear her quiet mumbles.

"I think we should let her tag along." She whispered into her ear.

"But Ruby, I thought you said it was just going to be the two of us going out?"

"I know and I would actually prefer it if it were just us today," Ruby paused and looked down to the floor, a small hint of sadness on her face. It was soon replaced with a smile as she looked back up and continued. "But this could be another chance for us to make a new friend. You told me yesterday that you didn't want to be alone ever again, well I think the best way to prevent that is to make as many friends as you can. Besides, you don't want to disappoint your big sister, now do you?"

Weiss' brow furrowed in annoyance at her, but Ruby just smirked right back, knowing that she had gotten under the heiress' skin. It was a technique that she had learned from Yang; back when Weiss was less agreeable on the activities they did together. She didn't use it much anymore since the Ice Queen warmed up to them over the years, but she would use occasionally whenever she was unsure of a decision. She knew that her tactic had worked when Weiss' frown blossoms into an assuring smile.

With a sigh, Weiss turned to faced Winter directly and gave her a small bow. "We will happily help with Penny's development, Winter."

Winter smiled subtly once again, relaxing her shoulders. "Thank you, Weiss." She motioned her hand out to them while looking at Penny, who upon noticing Winter expression, gave a bigger smile and happily skipped over to the two teens. Ruby and Weiss had their sights on the overly optimistic girl who only stared back at them - smiling.

"One more thing before you go." All three girls looked at Winter and saw that her smile was gone; in its place was a stern frown. "You must not let anyone else know what Penny really is. If the outside world found out that there is a robot disguised as a young girl walking around Vale, who knows what kind of problems that would cause."

"Got it! As far as we know, Penny is just an ordinary girl like me." Ruby smiled, placing her hands on her hips and puffing her chest out proudly with a smile. Penny examined the crimson-haired girl and copied her exact pose, smile and all. This caused Weiss to look away while pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head. Ruby then turned to face her new friend who did the same. "Okay Penny, you ready to experience the real world for the first time?"

"I'm fully prepared for whatever lies ahead. I have so many questions about you humans and what you do for 'fun'." Penny said as she moved closer to Ruby's face until they were practically nose to nose.

"Well, we're not going to answer them if we just stand here all day." Weiss stepped in between the two, pushing them apart to break the awkward moment.

"Right. We better get going then." Ruby said, rubbing the back of her neck. She then grabs Penny by her arm and begins to pull her gently to the exit, leaving the two Schnee's alone with each other.

The younger of the two turned to her sister. "You're sure you want us to handle it? This is Ruby we're talking about."

"I understand your concern, Weiss, but there's nothing to worry about." Weiss' eyebrows raised in a manner that signalled for Winter to elaborate. "Miss Rose is a kind and optimistic young girl who brings out the best in others. If she can do it to someone as cold and stiff as you were, then she can do the same to Penny too."

The answer she was given was a surprise to Weiss, but she knew that Winter was right. She looked back to where Ruby had gone for a moment before turning back to her sister. "Goodbye Winter, see you at home tonight."

"Have a great day out, sister."

With one last bow, Weiss turned on her heel and went to catch up with Ruby and Penny. As she walked past the machines she had seen before, she began to take in what her sister said. Ruby truly did bring out the best in people. She could make anyone's frown turn upside down with her own cheerfulness and energy. Heck, Weiss herself was an example of Ruby's handy work. Before meeting Ruby, she used to be lonely, cold, harsh and downright rude to anyone she met, but always wearing a fake smile across her face. Just like her father. But now, she was an entirely different person. Sure, she was still a bit cold and bossy to others, but she was more open to making friends and she could let loose her fun side without someone criticising her for not behaving like the high-class rich girl that everyone in Atlas expects her to be, a lifestyle that Weiss hated to a tee. Needless to say, whenever Ruby did something, whether it was incredibly funny or incredibly stupid, it made Weiss smile. A genuine smile.

She arrived at the entrance/exit to the lab and saw that Ruby and Penny were waiting for her. She noticed that Penny still had her overly happy smile on her face, but Ruby had a look of pure smugness that reminded Weiss of her brute of a sister, which was never a good sign for her.

"What?" She asked, crossing her arms.

The giggling girl brought up her hands and started wriggling her two thumbs. "I still got my thumbs and nothing's broken."

"Dolt." Weiss rolled her eyes as she and her associates strolled out of the giant metal doors they had come through earlier and made their way to the exit of the building.

Next stop: Vale City Centre.

* * *

"So this is what humans call 'Fashion'?" Penny asks curiously, glancing at a clothes rack that had designer dresses hanging off from it.

"Yes, Penny." Ruby stated, her voice sounding embarrassed and her face turning tomato red. "They help you portray your own style and personality."

"Sensational."

This was pretty much how Ruby and Weiss' day out with Penny played out. Whenever they went into a shop, She would ask the two girls questions about whatever her curiosity had landed on. Both of them would take turns in answering the robot's questions, giving them a chance to actually look around the stores they wanted to browse and purchasing anything they found. Penny didn't buy anything due to her not fully understanding the concept of money and not knowing what she actually likes or dislikes. Now they were in Weiss' favourite clothing store, looking at the expensive clothes while Weiss went off on her own to find the clothes that she personally liked.

Unfortunately, this left Ruby with babysitting duties over Penny and the embarrassment that came with it. They were able to fix Penny's smiling problem - granted, they only taught her how to keep a straight face, but it was still an improvement. That didn't stop them from getting weird looks from any passersby that noticed the girl's strange behaviour. It was difficult to come up with a reason to explain Penny's weirdness without making it sound offensive. Ruby had to admit: keeping Penny's secret was harder than she first thought.

_'Keep your calm, Ruby. She's your friend.'_  She said to herself mentally. Taking a deep breath, she looked across the shop for a second before tapping Penny's shoulder. "Come on. We need to meet back up with Weiss at the changing rooms."

"Right behind you, friend Ruby!" Penny stated with joy. Ruby awkwardly laughed and walked down the aisle of the store with Penny trailing behind her. The loud exclamation caused another selection of eyes to stare at the two. Although not as long as before, it still was uncomfortable to cope with. Hopefully, as the weeks go by there will be less awkward moments around Penny once she understands more. It would take a while, but it would be worth it in the long run.

When they arrived at the store's changing rooms, they found Weiss standing nearby, tapping her foot impatiently and holding a basket filled with a variety of clothing. "There you two are! Where were you all this time?"

"Yeah, sorry we took so long. Penny was eyeing up some clothes and asking about our fashion trends." Ruby replied, looking back at Penny who was staring at another set of clothes nearby.

"How surprising." Weiss said; the sarcasm present in her voice. "Anyway, I need your help with something, Ruby."

"Sure. What do you need?"

"I need you to help me decide which of these clothes suit me the most." The heiress said, lifting the bag she was holding. "I'm going try some of these on and want a second opinion from someone. You think you can help me with that?"

This was the moment that Ruby was expecting to happen today. Weiss asking her for fashion advice. It was one of the reasons that she decided on going out with her. Maybe this would help her settle these weird feelings she's been having since yesterday. She nodded her head as quick as she could without straining it. "S-sure. I can do that."

"Good." Weiss pointed to a set of chairs; sitting opposite to one of the changing stalls. "Both of you sit over there and wait for me come out."

The two girls followed Weiss' command and watched her enter the stall ahead of them with her clothes in hand. Penny turned to face Ruby in hopes to start up a conversation with her and ask more questions. But Ruby was still focused on the stall that Weiss had entered with a strange look in her eyes, an emotion that Penny hadn't seen much of, but knew the symptoms of by heart. She needed to know what triggered this feeling in her friend.

"Ruby, are you feeling alright? You've been staring at the stalls in a weird way." She asked politely. The emotion on the brunette disappeared as she turned to the bright-eyed girl.

"Y-y-yeah Penny, I'm fine." Ruby said quickly, before return her gaze back to the stalls.

She became aware of a weird presence near her and looked back at Penny to see her leaning awfully close and staring at her with her big, green eyes. "Strange," The android said, her stare becoming more concentrated. "Your hormone levels are rising and your face appears to be blushing."

"What? No! No, I'm not!" Ruby waved away Penny's assumptions and backed away in her seat as far as she could. "You must have a faulty sensor or something."

"Nope. All my systems are running at full capacity." Penny corrected, causing Ruby to sweat nervously. "From the current state you are in and with the information I have gathered so far, I believe that you're experiencing affection towards something, more commonly know as love."

All of the colour drained from Ruby's face in no time flat. Her body sat deathly still on the chair. It took her a moment to acknowledge that Penny was showing a brand new expression: Worry. "Ruby, I would like to know what is the cause of your affection. Can you please explain that to me?"

This was it. She was caught, she couldn't hide it now, not from Penny. She had to spill the beans or else Penny would mention this to Weiss and her secret would be blown right open. She checks the stalls again before looking back at her curious friend with seriousness in her silver eyes. "Penny, you gotta promise me that you will not tell anyone this. No one else hears of this until I say something about it, okay?"

Penny gave a nod and smiled. "I promise you that your secret is safe with me, Ruby."

Ruby didn't respond for a moment, staying completely silent until she made her choice. She checked the stalls one last time and faces Penny with a sigh.

"I think that I may have a small crush on Weiss." She muttered so quietly that it was barely heard.

She saw that Penny was showing surprise on her face. Cross another emotion off the bucket list. "This is very interesting." She said, her computer brain still processing this new information. "What is it about Weiss that makes you attracted to her?"

"Well, I'm not 100% sure that it is a crush yet." Ruby said awkwardly, scratching the top of her head.

"How so?" The question made Ruby hesitate before straightening herself out and clearing her throat.

"I have only known about these feelings since yesterday after my sister pointed it out to me. All of last night, I have been thinking whether or not she was right. I have known Weiss for about 10 years now, and not once have these feelings ever shown themselves until now. I don't know why it took so long for them to surface, but I need to know if they are genuine; that if I truly love Weiss. That's why I planned this whole day out with Weiss, to see if our friendship can be something more. But so far, I haven't found any evidence to prove it."

Penny watched as Ruby got more and more doubtful as she spoke; her body slumping over with her head resting on her hands. She starts to put the pieces together in her robot brain until a realisation came to her. A possible answer to what was the fluke in Ruby's plan… and it was her.

She placed her hand on her bummed-out friend's shoulder which made her look to her in surprise. "I'm so sorry if I may have ruined your plans for today, Ruby. It was not my intention to do so."

"No, It's not your fault, Penny. I'm just glad that I have someone to talk to about all this." Ruby reassured, forcing out a small smile to her companion. Penny could tell that it wasn't a whole smile, but it was enough for her to give back a smile of her very own.

Suddenly, Ruby's eyes widen in discovery as she looks at the green-clad girl once again. "In fact, do you have any advice that could help me out?"

The Medical Droid processed the question she was given through her brain to come up with a definitive answer. This wasn't her field of expertise, but she did have an idea that could work. "I'm no major love expert, but as your friend, I suggest you talk to someone who has more experience in love than you do. Maybe they can help you find the truth."

"How am I going to explain to someone that I maybe have a thing for the heiress of Schnee Tech?"

"Perhaps you can say it isn't you that's in love with Weiss."

That last response shocked Ruby more than anything else. Lying to someone about who loves who was not a thing that she would do; spreading false rumours was not her thing. But the fact that this idea came from Penny made her wonder if her personality was starting to rub off on to the innocent robot. She had only known this robot girl for 3 hours and she was suggesting crazy ideas to her. Still, Penny was right, she needed to find help that would make this whole concept of love easier for her to understand. The bigger question being who should she ask for help?

She couldn't think about it any longer as she heard a high pitched voice shouting from the stalls.

"I'm ready to come out!" Weiss shouted.

With a quick fix of her hair and a crack from her knuckles, Ruby mentally prepared herself for what was about to come. "Okay, we're ready!"

The two girls looked directly at the stall that Weiss had entered and watch as the curtain concealing it was pulled back. What Ruby saw made her eyes widen and her heart pump rapidly.

Coming out of the stall was Weiss wearing a pale-blue, knee-length sundress that had little snowflakes decorating the hem of the dress, along with a matching pair of sandals that had snowflake emblems on the plastic in between her toes. The outfit complemented the girls brilliant blue eyes and snow white hair and strangely gave off a warm and a cold feeling about her. Ruby just found her absolutely stunning.

"So? What do you think?"

"Y-you look absolutely beautiful in that, Weiss." Ruby said unknowingly, her mouth literally drooling at the sight of the white angel. With no warning, she covered her face with her hands, her face burning red from what she just said.

"Oh, thank you, Ruby." Weiss' face became a slight shade of pink, indicating that she was sharing her friend's embarrassment in a way. Not as bright as Ruby's, but still easily visible. "Um… Penny, what about you?"

"I agree with Ruby. That dress makes you look beautiful." Penny replied. In the corner of her optics, she could swear that she saw Ruby digging her head deeper into her arms in an attempt to hide her blushing face.

"Yeah, I'll have to agree with you on that." Weiss followed up as she looked down at her dress and did a little twirl. "Let me try another one on."

She retreated back to her stall and closed the curtain behind her. As soon as the curtains closed, Ruby let out a muffled groan from her mouth.

"Why did I just say that?! What was I thinking?! I made a complete fool of myself in front of Weiss!" The silver-eyed girl panicked, rubbing her hands against her head to massage her brain.

"It wasn't that bad, Ruby." Penny tried to comfort the over exaggerating girl, but her state of mind didn't change.

"It was Penny. You don't know what it's like to feel embarrassed."

It was true. She couldn't truly feel emotions; only express them via facial expressions or body language, but that doesn't mean she couldn't understand what her friend was feeling. "Well, I'm pretty sure that it won't happen again."

_**-Several Outfit Changes Later-** _

Ruby had never felt more embarrassed in her entire life. Every time Weiss stepped out of the changing rooms in a new outfit, All she could do was stare at her, comment on how pretty she looked and let the burning feeling in her face get stronger. It didn't help that the last thing that Weiss tried on was a blue swimsuit that clung to her body tightly, showing off her curves more than any other outfit. She did notice that Weiss was also blushing during the whole facade, but it wasn't as much as what she was suffering from.

After some time had passed and Ruby's face returned to its normal pale tone, Weiss came back out, dressed in the clothes she had worn this morning.

"Well, I got what I needed." She said, adjusting her jacket as she approached her friends. "Thank you, both for giving out such very… encouraging opinions."

"D-don't mention it." Ruby complimented back, although her voice sounded a tad nervous and shaky.

"Well then, just let me pay for these and then we can be on our way." Weiss stated as she made her way out of the changing rooms towards the tills with Penny and Ruby right beside her.

"What should we do now? What other stores would you two like to go to next?" Penny asked.

"I think we should get something to eat, and I know the perfect little cafe that sells the most delicious sandwiches in town." Weiss said with a proud, confident smile.

"Can we go and get some fast food for lunch instead? I need something more filling than a pile of white bread, ham and cheese." Ruby suggested, visibly rubbing her stomach in hunger.

A scoff could be heard coming from Weiss' mouth as she stopped on the spot and turned to face Ruby with a look of disgust. "Ruby, you know I find fast food repulsive."

"Come ooooonnnnn. You said you found it enjoyable last time." Ruby moaned, making Weiss roll her eyes. It was clear that she had an argument coming her way.

"Yes, I know I said that before, but I prefer a light, healthy lunch that won't give me food poisoning."

"But Weiss…"

She was interrupted when Weiss pressed a finger against her lips. "No buts, Ruby Rose. We are not eating at one of your greasy hotspots and that's final."

Ruby looked down at the floor in defeat. She really didn't want to eat plain boring old sandwiches. She wanted to have a nice filling cheeseburger to wash away all the embarrassment she had experienced, but there was no way she was going to win an argument against Weiss. Unless...  _'That's it. Time to break out my secret weapon.'_

Both Penny and Weiss looked curiously at Ruby when she lifted her her head back up with a devious smirk on her face. With all her might, she made her eyes as big as she could, stuck out her bottom lip and began to make the saddest face she could muster. Penny was all too confused as to what exactly Ruby was doing, but Weiss instantly recognised the stunt she was trying to pull.

"Oh no. No no no no no! You are not giving me the puppy dog treatment!." She yelled in anger but realised it was too late to stop her now. "Well too bad. This time it's not going to work."

She proceeded to cross her arms and stare right back into Ruby's eyes with her cold, hard eyes. Ruby just continued to make her face as adorable as possible.

"Nope. Not working."

Ruby's stare intensifies, her lip starting to quiver. Weiss did not move a muscle.

"Still not working."

Penny looked back and forth between the two, seeing both of their stares getting stronger and stronger by the second, neither of them giving up their little staring contest. Then, she spotted a difference. Weiss' face was starting to strain.

"Still. Not. Working."

She said through her gritting teeth. An audible whine started to emit from Ruby, her face looking like she was actually going to shed a tear.

Eventually, Weiss couldn't take it any longer. She flung her arms up in frustration and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Urgh! Fine! You win! We'll go where you want to go for lunch, just stop with the puppy eyes already!"

With victory in her hands, Ruby broke her adorable stare and literally jumped with joy. "Yeeeeessssss! Fast food it is." She shouted as she pumped her fist. Weiss angrily storms off, abandoning her friends to themselves while she goes to pay for her clothes.

Penny tapped Ruby on her shoulder to get the girl's attention. "Ruby, What emotion was that you just used?"

"Oh, it's not an emotion Penny. What you just witnessed is a personal technique of mines." Ruby explained, peeking Penny's interest. "I call it 'The Puppy Pound Stare'. The ultimate tool in turning any argument in your favour."

"Is it effective?" Penny inquired, her smiling suggesting that she wanted to use this move in the future.

Ruby proudly smiles and looks over to the currently fuming heiress.

"Works every time."


	4. The Cat and The Dragon

Blake was awakened by the sound of her alarm clock beeping non-stop for five minutes. She tried to ignore it, but her sensitive ears were making it impossible to fall back to sleep. She groggily opened her eyes to be met with the flashing red light of her alarm; everything around it was just a blur of white, black and purple. Stretching her arm out, she aimed for the clock and slung down, only to miss the thing completely and smack her hand against the draw instead. Several failed attempts and one sore hand later, She hit the top of the clock; successfully silencing the blasted thing and stopping the flashing red lights. She turned on to her back and stared at the white ceiling, only seeing a blurry mess through her vision. She was starting to remember why she had set her alarm so early in morning today. Today was a special day and she couldn't wait for it to begin, she just needed to find the strength to get her sleepy butt out of bed.

Sitting herself up and gently lifting the covers off her body, Blake looked across the room, her eyes finally adjusting to the brightness of the morning. Her vision landed on a mirror in the corner of her room. From where she was, she could barely make her reflection out, but she could tell that she had a serious case of bed head hair. She wasn't surprised with this, she always seemed to wake up with messy black hair in the mornings, it was just another task for her to complete. She got up from her bed and stretched her arms wide into the air before she walked out of her room to the family bathroom to have a nice warm shower.

After her shower was finished, she returned to her room with a towel wrapped around her body and head. Sitting down in front of her mirror, she began to rub the towel on top of her head to help dry it quicker. Once she was done, she slowly removed the towel, letting her damp, raven-coloured hair fall down her back and in her eyes. She picked up the hairdryer on the table and turned it on, letting a stream of warm air blowing her hair like in the wind. The warm air brushing against her skin was a nice feeling, but it felt even better against something she was staring at in her mirror: A set of black cat ears poking out of the top of her head. Blake was proud of her ears, but they were a reminder of how cruel the world could be.

Blake was not human; she was a Faunus. The Faunus were a species that appear to be human in every way… with one exception. They possess a single animalistic trait that appears in form of a physical body part. Cat ears, bullhorns, monkey tails, fish fins, even snakeskin was among the many possible traits that Faunus could be born with. Depending on their trait, a Faunus would adopt the quirks and abilities of the animal they share. Blake, for example, was a cat Faunus, meaning she had extra sensitive hearing, an unhealthy fondness for anything fish related, and an unrelenting hatred to dogs of any kind. Not Faunus dogs, she was okay with them. Normal four-legged dogs, on the other hand, were a problem to her, like Ruby's pet dog, Zwei. How much she feared that black and white corgi.

Despite their animalistic appearance, the Faunus were just as kind and peaceful as any ordinary Human, but not everybody sees them that way. Some Humans see Faunus as monsters, freaks of nature that shouldn't exist, creatures that were made to serve them like mindless pets. They treated Faunus like tools, using them to solve problems that no human couldn't possibly achieve, or just abusing them for entertainment; watching them struggle to finish their working while they sitting back and laughed their asses off. Vale was thankfully a city where Humans and Faunus were treated as equals, and any crimes committed against Humans or Faunus was met with ruthless consequences for either was quite hard to come by in Vale, it was one of the reasons her family moved here, to begin with, and it made Blake's late childhood a lot more comfortable, especially after she met her friends. If she hadn't met them, she would have never felt truly happy with herself.

With her hair all dry and brushed into her typical style, Blake put on her favourite striped sweater and grey jeans and made her way downstairs to the kitchen to grab some breakfast before heading out. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed that her parents were standing in the hallway, dressed in dark business suits. Her mom was currently helping her father to fasten his purple tie, which made Blake chuckle quietly. Several years of politics under his belt and yet, her dad still couldn't tie a tie.

"There, that should be tight enough." The older woman said, stepping back to admire her handiwork.

"Kali, you are a lifesaver." The significantly taller man replied. "Where would I be without you?"

"Probably running around your office, panicking over organising your schedule and forgetting to have lunch again, Gihra."

Gihra let out a full-hearted belly laugh and hooked an arm around his wife to pull her in for a single-armed bear hug. "And that's why I love you."

Blake watched as her father leans down to placed a kiss on her mother's cheek before they stared at each other with their amber-coloured, lovestruck eyes. She winced back in disgust at the sight, she never did like it when her parents showed off their love for one another this way, especially when she was with them in public.

"Urgh, do you are two always have to act all lovey-dovey when I'm around?" She blurted out loud so that they could be alerted to her presence. She watched as her mother's cat ears twitch at the sound of her voice as both her parents turned their heads in her direction.

"Blake, deary. You're up." Kali smiled as she was released herself from her husband's arms and made her way to her daughter. When she got to Blake, she proceeded to cup her hands on Blake's cheeks and looks all over her body from different angles. "How did you sleep? Was the bed too lumpy? I can get you a new mattress if you want?"

All that Blake could do was roll her eyes and sigh. This was her mom all right, her loving, caring, overprotective mom who acted like her daughter was still 7. "Mom, I slept fine. You don't have to treat me like I'm a little kid anymore."

"I'm just looking out for my favourite daughter."

"I'm your only daughter," Blake stated the obvious with an unimpressed expression, trying her best to hide the smirk that was appearing on her face.

"Precisely." Her mom giggled as she once again checked her daughter a second time. Blake knew that he mother means well, any mother would be concerned with their child's safety. But there was a difference between caring for your child and never wanting them to grow up.

Her mother finally stopped her pampering when her father coughed loudly to gain both girls attention. "Come on Kali. We need to get to city hall as soon as possible."

"Busy day ahead?" Blake asked, even though she already knew the answer she would be given.

She watched as her father walks over to a briefcase sitting on the hallway cabinet and begins to put multiple files into it. "You don't even know the half of it. First I have a meeting with the council to discuss new laws and updates they would like to implement, then I have to meet with Miss Schnee to discuss the proceedings for this years annually Schnee Tech Expo. And lastly, I have a mountain of paperwork sitting at my desk waiting to be sorted out." Upon placing the last file inside the briefcase, Gihra slammed it shut, letting out an exasperated sigh which made his family move closer to him. "It won't be an easy day, but running a city never is."

Blake didn't like to see her father in this state, but that what happens when you're the mayor of Vale. He used to be the chieftain of Menagerie, but he eventually stepped down so that he could pursue a more diverse career in politics, hence why they moved to Vale a decade ago. He's been the mayor of Vale for less than two years now and has so far been able to hit all his major targets he promised in his campaign. People saw Gihra as a man who was brave and determined to see a job through, a man who wasn't afraid to stand against any action that he deems untrustworthy, even if he was outnumbered. But what they never saw was the man who would be losing his cool when being weighed down with a plethora of responsibilities. He could handle them no problem, it just took a little encouragement to get him going again.

Knowing how to fix this, Blake walks to her father's side and rests a hand on his shoulder, although it was nowhere as close to his shoulder due to his gargantuan height, it was close enough for her. "It's ok dad. If anyone can do it, it's you."

"Hahaha, I suppose you're right." Gihra chuckled, giving Blake her own warm inducing hug. They separated as Gihra continued to prepare for the day ahead. "I don't suppose that your day will be as hectic as ours, Blake?"

The younger girl simple chuckled at he father's method of lightening mood. it was good to see him back to his old self. "Probably more than it ever will be. I'm going out with Yang for that date she promised a while back."

"Oh yeah, Yang! Such a nice girl she is." Kali said with an interested smile, her eyes practically sparkling at the mere mention of the blonde's name. "Tell me, How long have you two been dating for again?"

"...Two years." Blake answered slowly and hesitantly, both being weirded out by her mother's behaviour and worried about where she was going with this.

"Really? That long?" Blake only responded with a nod. The older cat Faunus tapped a finger across her lips calmly as she ponders through her thoughts. When she was finished, she came back to the real world with a motherly smile. "Hmmm… And it only seemed like yesterday when I showed her your baby pictures."

"Mom!" Blake's eyes widen as she rubs a hand against her forehead, feeling the intense heat emitting off her flustered face. She looks to her mother with annoyance, but she kept her smile on her face as her father was stifling a laugh of his own from behind her. "You's two are the worst sometimes."

Kali's smile only grew as she embraced her daughter with a motherly hug. The annoyance and blushing were disappearing from Blake's face, replaced with a small smile as she returns her mother's embrace. The two stayed locked together until Kali pulled out, but still keeping her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Your father and I must be going now sweetie. We should be back at around 8:00 so I hope you don't mind making your own dinner tonight."

"That's ok, I can cook for myself. As long as Yang stays away from the kitchen that is." Blake amusingly stated, resulting in her mom chuckling at her dry joke.

Another cough was heard from her father as her mother let's go of her shoulders to turn towards the mayor, who was standing at the front door with the briefcase in hand. With a sudden realisation and no hesitation, Kali walked to her husband's side and took the briefcase out of his hands before returning their attention to Blake.

"See you later tonight, Blake." Her father said as he opened the door for his wife who walked through first. Once she was through, he began to follow her, but not before he stops halfway out the door and turns back to face Blake one last time. "We love you."

"Love you too," Blake responded. With one last smile, her father closed the door behind him, leaving Blake to herself.

The amber-eyed girl let out a sigh, allowing her body to relax as she embraced the silence of the empty house. She loved her parents, she really did, she would not trade them for anyone else, but sometimes they were so embarrassing to be around with, especially when they were talking about her. It didn't help that her father was the mayor either, all the news station and reporters had their eye on him, which meant she would be caught in the spotlight as well. At home, however, she could enjoy the quietness and comforts of her room in peace without the public completely hounding on her family with questions. No cameras, no reporters, no politics, nothing. Just her, the silence of the night and a good book to read. But now was not the time for reading, now was the time to eat.

After cooking and eating up a small breakfast - some toast with jelly spread and a glass of milk, Blake grabbed her bag from the coat rack and made her way to the door. She placed her hand on the doorknob but stopped. Something felt off about her this morning. She couldn't help but feel as though she was missing something but she couldn't place her finger on it. When she turned to face the hallway mirror, that's when she noticed the oddity. Her cat ears were exposed, twitching ever so slightly upon the discovery of their presence. When she noticed it, she immediately made her way back up the stairs, into her room and towards her drawers. How could she so foolishly forget the most important thing she had to take with her whenever she was in public?

She opened her top drawer and pulled out a long black ribbon from it. When Blake first arrived in Vale, she was bullied by some of the more racist kids in the neighbourhood due to her Faunus heritage. It was unpleasant for her to endure, she wanted to make new friends, but she started fearing that everyone would judge her for what she is and not for who she is. It wasn't until she met Yang and Ruby that they suggested an idea to fix this. They tied a length of black fabric into bow on her head, perfectly masking the cat ears that lay underneath. It felt weird to wear at first as it made her ears itch like hell, but after purchasing more comfortable fabric, she started to like the bow, it made her feel more comfortable in public, around humans to be more specific. Finally, she had a chance to live her life without the fear of being rejected by those around her, she would be able to make friends who could meet her personality before they meet her appearance.

Hell, she was friends with a Schnee.  _ **A Schnee!**_ A name that a Faunus would respond with anger and distaste. The family were not especially kind to Faunus kind, treating them like slaves and putting their lives at risk for below average pay. But after Weiss' sister took over the brand, she made several changes to the way the company works, improving the workforce for Faunus within the company. Some Faunus still hated the Schnee', but Blake never truly loathed the Schnee name, and Weiss never showed any hostility towards her because of her when she revealed her secret to Weiss, she didn't react with anger and mistrust, she accepted her race and didn't treat her any differently than her other friends. It was good to know that she was a friend to the Faunus' greatest enemy.

With the bow tightly secured around her ears and a small bag slung over her shoulder, Blake went back downstairs and out through the front door. When she left her house, she was greeted by the sight of Yang, dressed in her typical brown jacket and blue jeans, but now rocking what she would call "a bitchin pair" of aviator sunglasses. She was leaning against a dark red car with her arms crossed and a big toothy smile on her face. It was clear to Blake that the car actually belonged to one of Yang's parents, they most likely let her borrow it for this date. Yang did prefer her motorcycle, Bumblebee for trips into town, but considering what she may have had planned for today, it was probably wise to ditch the two-wheeler today.

"Somebody call animal control because there's a wildcat on the loose and I'm staring right at it." Yang jokingly yelled out as the cat Faunus made her way down the path leading to the pavement.

"I don't know whether to find that comment offensive or flirty," Blake said as she came to a stop in front of her girlfriend.

The blonde unfolded her arms and took off her aviators, revealing violet-coloured eyes that showed a playful yet mischievous look. "No matter what one you pick, you'll still love me."

"Flirty it is," Blake said. She leaned her head forward and planted a kiss on the girl's cheek. When she returned her head back, she could see the intense blush on Yang's face. The blonde was clearly not expecting that to happen so quickly, a reason to why she loved Blake so much.

When Yang didn't talk for a good minute, still trying to recover from the sudden kiss, Blake decided to break the silence. "So... what do you have planned for our date?"

"Well, I thought we could do some shopping, grab a bite to eat for lunch and finish it all off with a trip to the movies. There's this cool new movie I had my eye on for the past few months that finally came out and I think we should go see it together." Yang listed of each activity with her bionic fingers, the excitement in her voice rising as she speaks.

"Please tell me it's not another corny action flick with awfully bad one-liners." Blake pleaded.

Yang simply shook her head in disagreement. "Nope." She said, popping the P. "And it's not one of your cheesy romance stories."

"Still sounds like a better idea than our last date."

"I keep telling you, how was I supposed to know that the bar also doubled as a fight club!" The blonde mumbled, sounding a little bit irritated.

Blake rolled her eyes and shot a teasing smile at her, with Yang sending back one of her own. She walked round to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. "Come on. We better get to town so we can beat the crowds."

"No need to rush, Blakey." Yang wittingly remarked as she opened her door and entered the car along with Blake. She pulled a set of keys from her pocket and placed them in the ignitions, looking over to her passenger. "We have the whole day ahead of us."

She started the engine and slowly pulled out onto the main road and head straight to the city.

* * *

The black and yellow couple was now walking away from the movie theatre and heading towards the nearby park, hoping they would get their favourite seat so that they could watch the sunset and reminisce on the day they had. Today's date went by quite smoothly, nothing too drastic happens to interrupt their alone time. Shopping went by with no major purchases being made from either party, they had lunch at one of Blake's favourite restaurants because of the types of fish they serve, and movie they watched was a great experience. Now they were going to end it all off with a watching of the sunset before heading back to Blake's for dinner.

The two sat on the bench facing the sun, watching the clouds move across the orange sky. Blake was resting her head on Yang's shoulders while the blonde slung an arm behind her. The couple were currently talking about the day they had, with Yang throwing in the occasional pun from time to time. At the moment, they were currently discussing the movie they just watched.

"Man, that movie was funny as hell. Who would've thought that those four assholes would be humanity's greatest saviours." Yang chuckled. "What did you think, Blake?"

"I enjoyed it," Blake replied, giving a small shrug. "I mean, the comedy wasn't really my preferred preference, but the action was pretty good."

"Yeah, although that guy with the shield gauntlet kinda reminds me of my dad for some reason," Yang stated, making Blake think about the connections between the two.

"Really? I don't think your dad shouts as many profanities as he did."

"Dude, you should see him when he gets absolutely hammered. The amount of crap that spews out of his mouth is comedy gold." Yang stared off into the distance, think about the last time she encountered drunk Taiyang. After that night, she had one heck of a story to tell her father when he was hungover. She saw that her girlfriend was looking at her with a somewhat worried stare, it took her a moment to understand why she was looking at her that way.

"Oh don't worry, he doesn't get as drunk as that anymore. Not after Ruby was born." She assured, raising her free hand in defence.

She settled down when she heard Blake let out an silently 'oh' from her mouth. The two went back to watching the sunset as Blake spoke up again. "Speaking of your sister, how was she after yesterday?"

"You know, that's the weirdest thing." The blonde said, making Blake raise an eyebrow. "She came back home giggling and acting like nothing ever happened. She then told me that she fixed whatever problem Weiss was having and has planned to spend the whole of today with her."

The information that she was given didn't conceive Blake that what Yang had seen was considered weird to her. Ruby justed seemed act like herself, so what's the problem? She decided to probe Yang for more information. "Did she tell you what the problem was?"

"Nope. All she told me that it was personal and I don't need to worry about it."

"That definitely sounds weird," Blake mumbled to herself. This was definitely unusually for a girl like Ruby to keep something hidden from her big sister, that was usually her stick. Still, she needed to know more about this. "Do think you know why she was keeping it vague?"

Yang didn't answer for a full minute as she thinks how to answer the question appropriately. "I'm not completely sure, but I believe it may have something to do with my sis' little crush on the Ice Queen."

It was at this moment that Blake's train of thought came to a screeching halt. Ruby? In love with Weiss? That's just crazy. Those two are the exact opposites of one another, how could one be attracted to the other? More importantly, how does Yang think that this the case? This was going to be one hell of a talk.

"You think Ruby is in love with Weiss?" Blake asked with a pleading voice.

"I don't think so, I know so. Did you see how she reacted when we started talking about it in front of Weiss in school yesterday?" The violet-eyed girl looked over to Blake with a confident and cocky smile.

Blake lifted her head from her shoulders and stared at the blonde. "Yeah, she did act out of character yesterday, but that could be a result of all the stress from the exams and the teasing you were torturing her with. You're jumping to conclusion without any hard evidence."

"Are you saying that I'm overreacting to this situation? My sister has possibly found genuine love, of course I'm going to be overjoyed with this!"

"I'm just saying that there could be a chance that this won't work out the way you think it would. You have to be prepared for the unexpected Yang, even if you don't believe it." Blake . "Although I must admit, imagining Weiss in a relationship with Ruby just seems right to me."

"Hehehe. Maybe it's true that opposites attract." Yang chuckled, not looking away from the sun and letting Blake rest her head back on her shoulders.

The silence between them was peaceful, the only sounds that could be heard were birds chirping, the rustling of the leaves being blown by the wind and the occasional car driving by in the distance. It was nice and very soothing. But Blake could hear Yang mumbling something under her breath, thanks to her cat ears. It sounded like she was distracted by something or she was thinking out loud. Blake didn't think anything of it, probably just her trying to think of a witty pun to break the silence.

"Blake." What she heard was a bit of a surprise to Blake. Yang spoke with a stern tone in her voice, causing Blake to face the blonde once again. The look on her face appearing more sombre than before. It was clear that the flirty, confident and carefree girl from this morning had disappeared. "Do you think Rubes has a chance with Weiss? I know they are best friends and Ruby clearly cares for Weiss deeply. It's just…"

There was a sudden movement from behind Blake. She turns to see Yang's normal arm was shaking subtly. The blonde quickly brought her arm back to her and grasped it by the wrist to calm it down. When the shaking stopped, Yang sighed loudly and dropped her arms to her side, letting her body relax against the wooden bench. Blake was starting to get worried now. Yang's arm only shakes when it was something to do with her injury, so why would it act up if she was just talking about Ruby and Weiss' relationship? It just doesn't add up.

"What is it?" She hesitantly asks.

"It's just... What if you are right? What if Weiss doesn't feel the same way back? What if she has to tell her that she's not interested in her? I can already imagine how she would react to that." Yang's voice was shaky, uncertain about something that was lingering in her mind. "I want Ruby to be happy, but I don't want her to get hurt as well, physically or mentally, but I know I can't stop this. It's going to happen, and when it does, Ruby will spiral back into depression and I can't be there for her. It would be just like the loss of my arm all over again."

The once joyful scene had all been shattered. Yang was hunched over looking at the ground in defeat and Blake was just staring at her with her hands on her lap. It was so rare to see Yang looking so weak and defenceless, the girl was never afraid to stare down danger right in its face, and sometimes she wasn't afraid to fight the danger head-on. But with one mention of the accident and that persona comes crashing down in a heartbeat. Blake needed to pull Yang out of this emotional rut and fast.

"While I wouldn't talk about a friend's secret without their permission, I can see where you're getting at." She said with as much confidence she could muster. Yang didn't speak a word, only looking at her which was enough for Blake to continue on. "Ruby was afraid when you lost your arm, I can remember the look of fear and guilt on her face when we first saw you in that hospital bed. She took your injury like a stab to the heart; locking herself in her room and crying herself to sleep every night and saying that it was all her fault and that was a terrible sister. At least that's what she told me."

Yang's eyes widen in shock. Her reaction seems to indicate that this was the first time she heard anything of this, which was good thing. It would help Blake prove her point. "I… I did not know that. I know she was depressed when it all happened, but I never thought she would blame herself for something I did. Why didn't she tell me?"

"Because she didn't want you to see her like this." Blake answer immediately. "She knew that you were probably dealing with your own bout of depression, and she believed that if you saw her in that state, it would only make you feel worse. So even with all the guilt and sorrow built up inside her, she held back the tears, faked a smile when you were around and did anything to cheer you up because she felt that it was her time to be the big sister to you."

Yang's brain took in the information about her sister slowly. She looked back to the sun and rested her head on her hands, her face softening a little bit as she stared. "I guess you're right," Yang mumbled so quietly that no Human could hear her. Luck for Blake, she was no Human.

"As for her and Weiss? Well, I agree that there is a slight possibility that it may end with one of them in tears, but we don't know if that will happen." Blake rested her hand on Yang's shoulder to assure her that her words had truth to them. "Your sister is strong, Yang. Stronger than any of us, and I hope that when she eventually confesses her love to Weiss, and that Weiss will love her back. But if what you say does happen, we need to push past the negativity and be there for Ruby."

Yang lifted her head from her arms but continued to stare at the setting sun. She felt Blake's soft hand removed from her shoulder. She couldn't see it, but she could tell that the cat was unsure if her speech had impacted her in any way. She knew that she needed to confirm to her girlfriend that she was feeling better, she needed to thank her for this and she had just the idea.

In a sudden change of roles, Yang lowered her head onto Blake's shoulder this time, causing the cat Faunus to look down in surprise and saw the heartwarming smile on her girlfriend's face. "Thanks, Blake. Thanks for looking out for my sister."

Blake continues to look at her in surprise, but her expression slowly faded into comfort and she follows Yang's movement by slinging her arm around the blonde's back. "It's no problem. Ruby is like a little sister to me. If she needs my help, I'll do what I can."

The two stayed where they were as the sun finally disappeared behind the trees with orange skyline following right behind it. The silence returns to them, but it wasn't the same awkward silence from before. This was the same silence that Blake felt back at home when her parents left the house, the one that soothes her when she was delving into a really good book, and now she had the added benefit of the warm fire that came off Yang to calm her nerves. In her mind, this date was perfect.

It was a full 10 minutes before the silence was broken yet again.

"Say, if they do both fall in love with each other, which one do you think is going to make the first move?" Yang asked absentmindedly, ending the tender moment between them.

"Huh?"

"If they are going to start a relationship, someone has to light the fire, right?" Yang clarified as she picked herself up from Blake's shoulder.

The raven-haired girl pondered through her mind for a moment before coming to a decision. "Between the two, I'm leaning more towards Ruby."

"Really?" Yang said surprisingly.

"Yeah. Ruby is more vocal about her emotions than Weiss, who never lets her emotions cloud her judgement. Ruby can express her emotions vividly and you can tell when her words have truth to them. She can tell Weiss that she loves her and we would all know that she means it, even if we didn't know about her affection beforehand."

"Yeah, I get that, but you keep forgetting what happened yesterday. Ruby isn't the best when it comes to making friends, she's so nervous and shy most of the time that she can barely get a word out without stuttering. There is no way that Ruby will have the guts to stand face to face with Weiss and say "I love you." She will chicken out the minute she starts blushing." Yang retorted. "Weiss, on the other hand, has the initiative that Ruby lacks in some places. She isn't afraid to say to someone how she truly feels about them, whether she likes them or absolutely despises them. If she truly does love Ruby, then she'll be one to tell her without getting spaghetti legs."

Blake understands what Yang meant, but she still believed that her reasons for Ruby confessing were stronger than hers. She has read several romance novels in her free time and she knew how love works. "Your argument is sturdy, but I still think Ruby will confess first."

"Wanna bet on that, Kitty Kat?" Yang challenged with a sly grin on her face. Blake knew where this was going; another one of Yang's attempts to prove that she was wiser than the bookworm. Normally, she would only join in on these bets whenever Ruby or Nora was around, but after what they were debating, how could she not pass off the chance to prove her girlfriend wrong?

"How much?" Blake asked; a confident smile spreading across her face.

"20 lien. Winner gets to pick any location for our next date."

"And the loser can't complain or fuss about it?"

"Not even a moan," Yang said, standing up from the bench and holding her hand out to Blake. "So, do we have a deal?"

Standing herself up and looking down to her hand, Blake nodded and shook hands with Yang, staring into her lavender-coloured eyes with confidence.

"Deal."


	5. A Different Point of View

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kept you waiting, huh?
> 
> Hey guys, Pencilboy here and I'm back with another chapter of RWBY: Homecoming.
> 
> Let me start by saying I am terribly sorry that I left you guys waiting for 3 months without an update. It was never my intent to leave you guys for so long, I got caught up with Christmas, family matters and college so I didn't have much time to write this story. But I now got some time back and I can continue with this story.
> 
> On another note, I have uploaded some drawings of the characters from this story on devianart. Here's a link to the page: https://pencilboy98.deviantart.com/art/RWBY-Casual-718456380  
> Hope you enjoy them.
> 
> Also, for those who are asking when the superhero stuff will come into play, don't worry, it will start to come into play very soon.
> 
> Anyway, enough of me talking. On with the chapter!

Penny cheerfully walked down the halls of the Schnee manor at a slow pace, admiring the decor of the house as she went by. She has only been in the lavish mansion for less than a day now, but she had been able to memorise the layout of the house in just a few hours. Winter had allowed her to stay in the Schnee manor and gave her access to the luxuries that came with it; She let her have her own room and even joined them for their family meals. Granted, she couldn't really eat anything that was giving to her, but she appreciated the hospitality that she was receiving.

Once she reached her destination - Weiss' bedroom, the android gently knocked on the wooden door. "Weiss, I have come on behalf of your sister to inform you that dinner is ready."

Penny waited for Weiss to either come out of her room or to acknowledge her message, but there was no response from the other side.

"Weiss?" She asked again, a small bit of concern in her voice.

Still, no response came from the bedroom. Penny's worry steadily increased, she hadn't known Weiss for all that long, but her programming was urging her to barge right in there to ensure that her friend was safe. She opens the door very slowly before stepping into the room.

Weiss' bedroom was… a complete mess. The bed look like it hadn't even been made, the wardrobe was wide open and had no clothes inside whatsoever, all of the drawers were pulled out from their cabinets and clothes were littered everywhere. Penny could only stare in confusion at the untidy mess that was once Weiss' bedroom. In cornering of the room, she could see the white-haired girl kneeling down in front of a pile of clothes and erratically moving them out of the way, her hair all messy and dishevelled.

"Where is it? Where is it?!" The frantic Heiress mumbled, flinging expensive looking clothes behind her.

Wondering what she was doing, Penny moved close to her friend who had failed to notice that she was not alone anymore. When she finally got close enough, she lightly tapped her shoulder. "Weiss?"

With no warning, Weiss let out a high pitched shriek as she fell back into the unorganised pile of clothes she was searching through. She tears some clothes from obscuring her eyes, looking directly at the somewhat startle robot. What were once eyes filled with fear were now filled with anger.

"Weiss, are you okay?" Penny asked politely, reaching her hand out to her.

The kind gesture was immediately smacked away by Weiss who proceeded to pick herself up off the floor but still keeping an angry glare on Penny. "No! No, I'm not okay! You almost gave me a heart attack."

"I have built-in defibrillators." With no hesitation, Penny rubbed her hands together and a blue light appears on her palms as she stretched them out and moved closer to Weiss. "Clear!"

"No, no stop! It's just an expression!" Weiss shouted as she backed away from the electrically charged hands as far as she could.

The robot's eyes widen in realisation and halted her action, an audible "Oh" coming from her mouth. When the electricity had stopped, she withdraws her hands to behind her back. "Noted."

Weiss rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed grunt, as she strolled over to another part of the room, completely ignoring the redhead in her presence. It was tough to teach Penny how to blend in with humans when all the metaphors and expressions completely fly over her head. She was starting to think that agreeing to this was a bad idea and was considering to give Ruby a long, hard scolding for talking her into doing this. But still, she made a promise to Winter and she wasn't intending on breaking it.

"If you don't mind me asking, why is your room in such a messy condition?" Penny asked, taking a cautious step forward.

The Ice Queen glared back at her with furrowed brows before calming herself and sighed. "I lost something very important to me this morning and I'm searching my room top to bottom until I find it."

"Do you require my assistance? What does it look like?"

"Well it is a-" As Weiss was midway through turning to face her, a glimmer of metal from a nearby pile caught her eye. She immediately lunged for the pile and haphazardly flung them all away to reveal the source of the Shining."Aha! I finally found you!" She shouted with joy and relief. She took the item in her hands and proceeded to rise back up on to her two feet, turning around with the item held out in front of her for Penny to see.

The object of importance appeared to be a necklace, in which the best way Penny could describe it was 'simple'. It wasn't adorned with sparkling diamonds or dazzling sapphires, it wasn't made of pure gold or platinum, it was just a small silver apple shaped pendant that hangs from a silver chain.

"Is that the important item?" She asked in confusion, pointing directly at the necklace.

"Yes, this necklace means a lot to me. I have only had it for about 3 years now, but it holds a lot of value to me. I practically wear it every day, except for a few occasions." Weiss explained as she wraps the necklace around her neck, admiring it after she was finished. It was just a piece of jewellery, but whenever she wore it or looked at it, all the good times she spent with her friends came flooding in.

"What makes a simple necklace so important to you?" Penny's question made Weiss stare directly at her with furrowed brows. She jerked back in surprise before elaborating. "I'm not trying to sound rude or anything, but that doesn't look like the kind of jewellery someone like yourself would be wearing. It looks too plain and simple for someone of your wealth."

"It's not because of its design or its cost." The heiress stated, looking down at the pendant resting in the palm of her hand, sliding her thumb across the smooth surface. "This was given to me by someone that I've known for a long time, long enough that my life would be filled with misery and loneliness if they weren't around."

"And who is this person?"

Weiss was going to give a response that would force Penny to change the subject, but all that came out of her mouth was an incoherent mumble of words. Normally she wouldn't be so nervous or shy around people, but in recent years, her emotions have been more expressive than ever and everything felt quite foreign to her.

Her father had the idea of that emotions makes a person weak engraved into her mind, "a Schnee never shows weakness" he uses to tell her when she was little. During her early childhood, she had listened to her father's words and built imaginary walls to block out her emotions from the outside world, ensuring that they would never blind her actions and show that she was worthy of the Schnee name. In hindsight, it was one of her more idiotic decisions and one that she intends to rectify. Ever since she became friends with a group of misfit school children that her father - if he was still alive - would call "Insignificant pest that obstructs your goals", they have been slowly chipping away at her ice walls, allowing her feelings to leak through the cracks and express themselves.

And at the moment, her emotions were making her regret bring up the importance of the necklace. It wasn't because how she received it was personal, it was just embarrassing to talk about. Not depressing or traumatising, just embarrassing in her eyes. But she was a Schnee, and she wasn't going to let a small bout of humility bring her down.

After inhaling a deep breath, Weiss finally gave a response. "It's… Ruby."

The alabaster-haired girl moved her eyes away from the necklace for the first time in a while, her ice blue meeting with Penny's surprised neon green.

"You hold that necklace so close to your heart... because of Ruby?" She asked hesitantly, tilting her head in confusion.

"I guess you can say that." Weiss shrugged. "I know that it's not the most expensive thing that I own, nor is it the most extravagant looking, but that's what I like about it. It's just plain and simple, but it gives off more personality and depth than any pearl necklace wishes it could ever achieve, kinda like a certain dolt I know."

It was true, the sole reason she holds on to the small neck decoration was not only because it was a gift from Ruby, but because it reminded Weiss how much the cookie lover genuinely cared for her. While on the surface, Ruby can appear childish, clumsy, impulsive and - from time to time - infuriating, underneath there lies a compassionate and surprisingly mature individual that would awaken when the moment called for it. That side of Ruby would help Weiss push through some of her more stressful moments, mostly when the problem was her family or more recently, her history of loneliness. She may not have asked for a friend like Ruby at first, but she was entirely grateful for the girl's presence in her life.

"Do you care for Ruby that much?" Penny's question came out more like a statement rather than an actual question, almost like she already knew the answer.

Breaking from the admiration of her necklace, Weiss gave a quick glare at the freckled girl before turning her back on her, hiding the small blush creeping up her neck. "O-of course I do! She's my friend, and friends look out from one another."

Her retort didn't dissuade the robot girl from continuing further. "Really? Because from what I have studied during our day around Vale yesterday and my time in your home, you seem to react overwhelmingly positive whenever Ruby is mention. It's Almost like you see her as more than a friend."

"I don't care what you have witnessed or learned, there is no way in hell that Ruby and I are a couple," Weiss said through gritted teeth, her anger and annoyance rising as she spoke.

"But-"

"Enough, Penny!" Weiss finally snapped back as she turned in the direction of Penny once again, their faces mere inches away from each other. She has had enough of her game of 20 questions, if she wanted to know, she would have to wait patiently like any other normal person. Sure, she wasn't normal and is only one day old… maybe? But that does not excuse her for her behaviour. If she wanted to be human, she will have to learn it the hard way.

After an unintentional stare down between a shocked and confused Penny and an irritated and annoyed Weiss, the white-haired girl straighten her posture and composed herself. "I apologise for the sudden outburst, but this is where I draw the line. There's nothing special about me and Ruby, we are just friends and nothing more."

At first, Penny pondered for a moment, her face showing a bit of disappointment but it quickly changed to a more accepting expression. "Understood."

Weiss let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding, glad that Penny had decided to drop the topic altogether. It seems that her method of teaching had worked. With that subject preferably brushed aside, she could now ask her something more important.

"Now, care to explain why you came to me in the first place?" She asked, her tone sound a bit harsher than she liked.

The question manages to catch the android off guard, her eyes blinking in surprise. "Oh, of course. I was sent by your sister to fetch you for dinner."

"It's dinner time already?" She looked over at her wall clock to discover the time was 5:00 pm. Time sure does fly when you're wrecking your room to find something you treasure more than anything. "Tell her I'll be there in a moment."

"As you wish, Weiss." Penny gave a salute before exiting the room and closing the door behind her, leaving Weiss alone in her room once again.

With nothing but the mess of her room surrounding her, Weiss walked over to her mirror and began to clean her messy hair with a brush she picked up off the floor along the way. Her room needed to be cleaned up, but that could wait, the only thing that matters right now is her appearance. She will get to it after dinner; don't want to keep Winter waiting any longer than she needs to.

As she continued to fix her hair, she thought back to what Penny had said about her and Ruby's friendship and simply snorted.

' _Me and Ruby in a relationship. That is the single most stupidest thing I ever heard.'_ She thought, rolling her eyes at the mere idea of her and Ruby together.  _'I haven't had that much experience in dating, but I know for a fact that that clumsy, hyperactive, cute, impulsive dolt is not the kind of person I would date.'_

A smile that was a mixture of amusement and smugness found its way onto the heiress' face, she may have sound cruel in her head, but it was just a fact: a relationship between her and Ruby was such a silly concept that it made her smile in hilarity. That smile was wiped completely from her face when what she had just said finally began to sink in.

' _Wait… did I just call her cute?!'_

* * *

The light off Ruby's computer monitor was the only source of light in her bedroom that night, the screen displaying multiple images of weapons; mostly rifles. The young girl was scribbling down on her sketchpad, occasionally glancing at the computer screen before returning to her drawing.

Smiling in success, she straightens herself in her seat, puts down her pencil and lifts up her sketchpad. The page displayed a drawing of a red and black scythe with several attachments to it like an aiming scope and an ammo clip connected to the shaft. All Ruby can do was stare at her sketch with pride. This was her baby; Crescent Rose she called it. A weapon that was designed to combine the long reaching range and sharpened blade of a scythe with the power and range of high calibre sniper rifle. She spent many weeks sketching and drawing multiple different concepts for her idea, none of which she felt was truly right for her vision, but now she believes that she has finally found a design for the weapon that she was satisfied with. It would be a dream come true if she were able to bring her creation to life, but that was all it will ever be; a dream.

"Someday girl. Someday." She whispers softly as she places the drawing back on the worktop.

"And you say Yang was weird for treating her bike like a person." Ruby looks back over her chair and towards the door to see her mother dressed in a house robe, leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed and a motherly smile on her face.

The young girl looks surprised at first but soon returns her own smile. "That's different, Mom. I don't flat-out hug my belongings."

"That's because you have nothing to hug." Summer pointed out as she moves closer to her daughter.

"Exactly!" Ruby exclaimed loudly. The two identical female's laughed together at their playful banter, with the youngest one being the loudest between them. It was eerily creepy that Ruby had a lot in common with her mother. Same hair, same eyes, even the same personality, although Summer was nowhere near as childish and a lot more mature than her daughter. However, their similarities was a sign of the strong bond that was shared between mother and daughter.

It wasn't until Ruby's laughter transition to a loud yawn that Summer's parental instincts kicked in. "Alright, I think it's time for someone to call it a night."

"But Moooooom..." Ruby groaned but was immediately silenced by her mother.

"No buts young lady. You have school tomorrow, and I would rather not have my daughter fall asleep in the middle of class… Again." Ruby made a very visible pout. Her occasional classroom naps weren't something she wanted to be constantly reminded of. "Now come on, I'll tuck you in."

With another groan, Ruby reluctantly agreed and switched off her computer and climbed into her bed. Soon after, her mother kneeled down to her level, brought the covers up to her chin and tucked the sheet gently around her. Some fifteen-year-olds would find being tucked into bed by their parents unnecessary and utterly embarrassing, not Ruby, however.

"There you go. All nice and warm. Do you want me to read you a bedtime story?" Summer suggested, gesturing to the small bookshelf at the other end of the room.

"I'm 15 Mom. I think I can fall asleep without the help of a children's book." The young girl looked over at the bookshelf, recognizing every book that was housed in it before returning to her mother. "Maybe another night."

Ruby watched as her mother smiled and leaned forward to plant a kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight, Ruby." She patted her head before standing back and making her leave.

But as Ruby watched her mother walking towards the light of the opened door, she couldn't help but think about the conversation she had with Penny the other day. Finding someone to help with her love life was tough, she spent the remainder of yesterday's afternoon thinking of who could provide her with decent love advice, only to reject every option.

She needed to find her saviour soon, the anticipation of knowing if she truly loved Weiss was practically killing her. Since their time at Signal was coming to a close, now would be the perfect time to start dating. But she needed to be a hundred percent sure that this wasn't some childhood crush, but a pure long-lasting affection for the heiress and she needed someone to show her the truth.

And that's when it clicked. The 'love expert' she was seeking was walking away from her.

"Mom?" Ruby said sheepishly, watching her mother stop in the doorway and turn back around.

"Yes, sweetie?" She asked.

A single breath escaped from the young girl. "C-can I ask you something very important?"

"Of course you can." Summer walked over to her daughter's bedside, looking down at the unexpectedly nervous girl. "What do you want to ask?"

Ruby's eyes wandered at different parts of her room, her mind building the question in her head. She gulped hard and spoke.

"How did you find out that you were in love with dad?"

"Oh, Ruby, why do you want to know something like that?" Her mother's tone wasn't scolding or criticising, it was more of confusion and concern.

Ruby hesitated for a moment before sighing. "All of my friends seem to have found their special someone who they love with all their heart. Yang has Blake, Jaune has Pyrrha, I even think Ren and Nora are together now." She giggled and softly smiled at her assumption, but it soon faded into a somewhat depressing frown. "But me? I got no one. I haven't found my special someone, and I feel so lonely without them. I want to find them, but how will I know that the next person I meet will be the one. I'm a lot like you mom, so I thought if I know how you and dad fell in love, I could figure out how to find my love."

With the last few sentences, Ruby hung her head down in shame, her fingers fidgeting with the ends of her bed sheet. Most of what she said was a lie; the fact of her friend's relationships and her trouble understanding love were true, but not knowing her soulmate and being lonely were little porkies. Honestly, she felt too scared to tell anyone of her attraction to her best friend. Sure, her parents approved of Yang dating Blake, but this was different. Even if she did confess to Weiss that she liked her, She knew it would never happen.

She wasn't an heiress to a majorly successful company, she wasn't a rising star athlete like Pyrrha, she wasn't a daughter to the mayor of Vale, she wasn't a tall and beautiful bombshell like her sister.

She was Ruby Rose; a short, unattractive weakling who lives in an average home with normal parents and nothing special about her. Why would anyone - let alone Weiss Schnee - love her?

This was stupid, why was she wasting her time with this? She was too young for this lovey-dovey stuff, right? Even if this topic was perfectly reasonable for someone of her age to talk about, she wouldn't get answers from it anyway. Most likely, her mother will brush it off for now and explain it to her when she is older. It was the same phrase that every parent uses to their child, but that was what she expected.

What she didn't expect was to feel her mother's hand caressing her cheek slowly and gently. Meeting her mother's eyes, she could see that they were filled with a proud and joyful gaze. "Your growing up so fast."

Her words left Ruby surprised, a small grin returning to her face. "Heh, what can I say? I'm a fast learner." She jests. Her mother chuckled lightly, taking a seat at her bedside.

"Right, where to begin." Summer ponders as she playfully patted her knees like a drum for a moment. "Well, I think you already know this, but I wasn't your father's first wife."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, Yang's mom was."

"Correct." Summer shifted slightly to a more comfortable position. "I don't want to go too deep into specifics, but all you need to know about her was that she loved your father very much, gave birth to his child and a few weeks later, she went up and left him."

"Do you know why?"

An answer didn't immediately come from Summer as she stared off into the distance, a hint of anger and regret in her eyes. "No, but that's not important right now. What is important is that her departure left your father heartbroken. He was so lost in grief that he couldn't take up the responsibility of raising Yang by himself, so I offered to become Yang's stepmother. At first, it was just me popping in whenever Tai had to go to work at the gym, then I was moving in to be closer to them, and then it became a facade to be Yang's mother. I was only doing it because I was looking out for a friend, but as the months went by, it became more than a desire to help a friend.

"Your father was handsome, brave, clumsy and always told terrible jokes, things that I liked about him. But it took his wife abandoning him and his daughter for his more sensitive side to show, the thing that I love about him. We became closer, started going on dates, passionately kissing one another, sleeping in the same bed. Eventually, he finally found the courage to purpose to me and asked me if I would be his new wife. And here I am, 16 years later and I have a small but brilliant family that I wouldn't change for the world."

Ruby didn't know what to feel about this. She always knew about Yang's mom and her disappearance, but she never knew the damage it caused to her family. She always saw her father as a strong individual, not a man who could be broken so much that he lets his own grief consume him. She felt saddened for his loss, but was glad that he found love in her mother, it sounded like he really needed her. But still...

"I don't understand." was her response. A raised eyebrow and a curious 'hmm' from Summer encouraged her to continue. "You said that you and dad love each other so much, but it took you two several years to discover it. So why didn't you fall in love with him as soon as you first met him?"

"Love is like a complicated machine Ruby; you think you understand how it works, you think you can maintain it until the universe decides to throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing and forces you to double check the instructions." Summer chuckled softly. A small giggle came from her daughter as she continues to speak. "What I'm trying to say is that you can't find your love just yet because it's hiding from you, like a test, to prove if you love them as much as they do. They could be in another continent or live across the street, they could be a complete stranger to you or they can be someone you've known for your whole life. You really don't know until you start looking. So just keep looking my little rose petal, and you'll find the spark to your love."

The confidence and honesty in her mother's voice made her point clear. Love isn't easily found. You have to work for it, get elbows deep and give it your all, only then will you find what you are missing and be truly happy. It's a long and challenging process that requires a lot of determination to achieve your reward. Thankfully, determination was the one thing that Ruby has plenty of.

"Thanks, Mom." She said, now understanding everything. If she wasn't already tucked in bed, she would sit up and hug her mother.

"No need to thank me, sweetie. Just doing what a mother is supposed to do." Summer stated, standing up from the bed. "Now get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

Ruby watched her mother walk to the bedroom entrance. Before she left, she spoke to her one last time. "Goodnight mom."

The older crimsonette stopped at the door once again and smiled over her shoulder. "Goodnight sweetie." And with that, Summer switched off the bedroom light and took her leave.

With the darkness surrounding her, Ruby let her head relax against the pillow. Thanks to her mom, she now knows the truth. It took two days of thinking, an emotional talk about loneliness, a day out with her best friend, and a discussion on hidden love with her mother, but she has confirmed her suspicions. With the exhaustion of the day finally catching up to her, she closes her eyes and smiles.

"I'm in love with Weiss." She whispered to herself as she drifted off into a blissful sleep.

* * *

Weiss allowed her body to collapse onto her bed, the task of having to clean the mess she made during her necklace search and rescue mission leaving her exhausted. It was her fault that she lost it, to begin with, so she probably deserved it. What she didn't deserve was to have her relationship with Ruby be questioned by a robot who has no regards for personal privacy.

"Stupid Penny and her stupid assumptions." She grumbles to herself. "What does she know about romance? nothing! That's what."

Tossing onto her side, she looks out her window and observes the clear starry night, calming her nerves. that conversation made her do something she never thought she could.

She called Ruby cute. She called Ruby cute.

She has called the bouncy crimsonette many things in the time she has been friends with her. A dunce, clumsy, hyperactive, friendly, naive, even adorable at one point, but never did she call her cute! So why would she call her that now? What had changed over the years? Maybe it was her? She had built her impenetrable walls of ice around her feelings to protect herself, to never let anyone see how vulnerable she truly was. Did she open her walls too much and let her feelings run loose? No, that wasn't it. It was Ruby who made her feelings so visible and she knew how she was able to.

Ruby didn't just chip at her ice walls; she completely shatters them.

But who could blame her? The girl was clearly born with the intent of being the cutest living being in existence. Her short, red-tipped hair looked soft and smooth to the touch which helps frames her face perfectly along with highlighting her child-like features, like her cute little button nose, her great big goofy smile that would lift anyone spirits and her voice that left a fluttering feeling in her chest every time she heard it.

Realising what she was doing, she shook her head and snapped herself out of her daydream. "No. Stop your deranged fantasies, Weiss. Like you said, Ruby is just your friend."

In an effort to suppress her thoughts of Ruby, Weiss pushed the dolt's face to the back of her head, thinking of anything that doesn't involve her… and immediately started daydreaming about another part of Ruby; her body.

In her own opinion, Ruby was a finely shaped young girl. Not only was she few inches taller than her, Her assets were far more developed than Weiss', despite her being two whole years older than the crimsonette. It never really bothers her though, it only enhanced girl's features even more, which was plus in her book.

Whenever the two were near each other, Weiss could smell the scent of roses and strawberries emanating from the young girl; a clear indication of what shampoo she uses. The aroma was pleasing to the heiress' nose, it took her to a place that she could only describe as heavenly, a place that only appeared when Ruby was around, especially when she wraps her arms around her waist in a warm embrace. She would never admit it, she wished Ruby would hold her for as long as she - oh god damn it!

"Stop thinking about Her! You're a Schnee! You shouldn't be imagining your best friend like that. Just block her out." Weiss shouted as she flopped back onto her back and stared right at the ceiling. This was getting out of hand, but she couldn't stop herself from focusing on Ruby's most defining feature.

Her eyes. She didn't have the average looking blues and greens of any ordinary person or the warm, blazing purple of her sisters. No. She was born with eyes of the purest silver, a colour that sparkled in light or dark. A pair of silver orbs filled with innocent and purity that were so adorable, it's got to be a crime. Weiss has never met anyone else who shares the elusive trait, the only exception being Ruby's mom, but even then, there was something more endearing in Ruby's eyes, some invisible force that was pulling the heiress towards her. She could imagine locking their eyes together, both filled with affection, it made her feel so… so...

"WHY WON'T SHE LEAVE MY MIND?!" Weiss screamed at the top of her lungs, grasping her head in frustration. "There is nothing special between us! There never will be! I DO NOT LOVE… love… love…"

The heiress repeats the word over and over like a mantra, her anger being replaced with confusion. Love was the only emotion that she didn't understand, she never had a chance to delve deep into it, the importance of the family business and school overtaking her personal matters. She has bear witness to the love between Jaune and Pyrrha along with Yang and Blake's relationship as well, but she never touched the subject until now.

It wasn't until her thirty-fifth time saying it that the truth came crashing down on her, her eyes widening in shock and realisation. How could she be so blind to the signs she was exhibiting? The denial, the embarrassment, the frustration, the fantasies, the desire to be in her arms, all of it were a clear indication of one thing.

She was in love with Ruby Rose.


	6. Lovesick

"I'm in love with Weiss."

The more she said it, the deeper the reality of Ruby's statement sunk in. It was only about 1:00 in the afternoon and yet, here she was, still lying in her bed, fully dressed, tossing and turning every time she muttered the phrase.

It has been a week since the discovery of her sexuality and it had been a struggle for her to keep it hidden. She kept herself secluded in her room, brainstorming ideas on how to approach the situation, only coming out for food, family chores or school. Her parents were suspicious about her strange behaviour, but thankfully, they never pushed her for an answer. Good, makes it less likely for her to start rambling and accidentally saying it out loud without even thinking.

The school week was incredibly awkward to endure as well, especially whenever she was around Weiss. Their conversations were unnerving and left an uncomfortable pause in the air, it didn't affect their performance in the exams; only their social interactions. Even when they weren't in the same room, Ruby's heart would beat rapidly at the mere mention of the heiress name.

And that was another problem; just looking at her made the crimsonette's nerves drop like an anchor in the water. Her crystal blue eyes that shined in the light; her soft, silky smooth, snow-white hair that flows down her back like a river; her pale, almost flawless skin; her small, slim body which complimented her subtle curves, everything about her was just perfect in Ruby's eyes. With all these feelings zooming around her head, she was lucky that she kept her concentration during the exams.

All these feelings were making her feel anxious, her feet twitching unconsciously. She wanted to tell Weiss everything; that she loved her back and would like to hold her in her arms, but there was an ever so present fear of what could happen if she confessed to her. Would she reject her? Would she hate her and end their friendship just like that? No, Weiss wasn't that cruel, but it didn't help her quell her fears. The only reason she hadn't told anyone about this was that she believed they would reject her.

But today, that will change.

Using her arms to lift herself from her bed and on to her feet, Ruby walked out of her room for the second time that day and made her way down the stairs to the living room. Her parents were nowhere in the house today, having left for their jobs hours ago, leaving just her and Yang alone in the house. Well, it wasn't just her and Yang.

Soon, the sound of nails clicking on the hallway floor assaulted her ears as she spots a black and white ball of fur sprinting from around the corner and towards her before stopping at her feet with his tongue stick out. Zwei; the single most cutest corgi you could ever see in your life. When they got the dog years ago, everyone immediately took a liking to him (except for Blake), even Weiss couldn't help but gush over the lovable pup.

Smiling at the family pet, Ruby bent down to his level and patted his head. "Hey there, boy. Do you know where Yang is?"

The black and white corgi barked happily in response and turned away. He raised a paw and pointed to the door that leads to the family garage, barking twice to emphasise his point.

"In the garage. Of course, she would be in there." Ruby mumbled to herself, moving to the door. She grabbed the doorknob before turning back to her dog. "Good boy Zwei." The dog barks happily, Making her giggle a little as she opens the garage door.

Upon entering the garage, she immediately spotted her sister crouching down and working on Bumblebee, no surprise there, but what was a surprise was to see Blake sitting on the table reading a book. She wasn't expecting for her to be here and was already considering halting her plans and walking straight back to her room, but then something came to mind. Maybe telling Blake along with Yang will help her even more with her predicament.

With new found confidence, Ruby closed the door silently and made her way to the black and yellow duo. As she got closer to the pair, she could just make out the end of her sister's pure rotten joke. "...And then I said-"

"Now that's a katana." Blake finishes nonchalantly, her eyes never leaving her book.

"Aw come on Blakey. Why do you have to go and spoil my fun?" Yang whined, momentarily stopping her work on her bike. "At least let me get to the punchline first."

"Then get new jokes and I might consider it."

The blonde chuckled lightly as she returned to work on her bike. Blake returns to her book, believing to have some silence for a while, but her ears twitch slightly as she hears the sound of approaching footsteps heading her way. Look in the direction of the source, her eyes lock on to Ruby, smiling slightly.

"Hello, Ruby." She greets the younger girl with a small smile.

Ruby stood a fair distance in between her hard at work sister and the book reading Blake, giving her an awkward wave. "Hey Blake, still stuck to your books I see."

"They're a good read, plus a good distraction from your sister." Blake cheekily remarked.

Letting out an amused snort, Yang put down the spanner she was using and looked over at the pair, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Hey there, Rube-tube. Glad to finally see you out of your room for something other than food or school."

"Your one to talk. I see you in here working on that bike of yours more often than not." Ruby pouted while crossing her arms together.

"Need to keep the girl tuned-up, okay? Don't want her falling apart on us mid-drive." She patted said bike gently, being careful not to push it over. "While you're here, can you lend me a hand with Bumblebee?"

The nerves from before came to haunt her as Ruby bit her lip, pulled her arm behind her back and proceeded to rub it with her other arm, shuffling her feet on the concrete floor. "Actually, Yang, I need to tell you something."

The blonde's eyebrows raised, but the infectious smile on her face did not leave. "Sure thing sis. What do you need to tell me?" She rose from her crouching position and looked down at her sister. "Please tell me you didn't do something illegal."

"No, no, nothing like that! It's a bit more… personal." Ruby mumbled the last word in a quiet voice; almost enough that it could barely be heard. This caught Blake's attention as looks over at her girlfriend before returning her gaze to Ruby.

"I guess I'll wait in the living room while you two have your little chat." She proclaims as she began to sit up on the table but Ruby immediately stopped her.

"No Blake, you can stay here." She assured her cat friend, using her hand to tell her to sit back down. "It may be better if I told the both of you."

Blake's face was one of surprised then confusion. It was clear that she was suspicious about her odd behaviour, but hopefully, she would just brush it off as her being nervous.

"Very well then." The cat Faunus shrugged as she got comfortable again on the table, putting a bookmark in her book and closing it for later.

"So…" Yang began as she placed her hands on her hips. "What do you want to tell us?"

Ruby swallowed. "You promise that you won't laugh, or tell mom and dad?"

"Ooh, keeping a deep dark secret now are we?" Yang said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Yang! this is serious!" Ruby shouted at her sister, stomping her foot, her face turning red, whether from embarrassment or anger, Yang couldn't tell.

"What? just trying to lighten the mood. Can't have you being miss mopey-dopey all the time."

A scrunched up sheet of paper hits Yang straight in the head. She rubs head pretending to be sore as she looks over and meets the scolding eyes of her girlfriend, shaking her head in disagreement. Her grin disappeared as she nodded her head in agreement.

"Right, need to take this seriously." She paused to take a quick breather to compose herself, prepare herself for what comes next. With a straight face and crossed arms, she returned her attention to her baby sister. "Okay sis, spill the beans."

Ruby looked down at the floor, rocking back and forth on the heels of her feet. This was it. No going back. If she backed out of this now, she will have wasted everybody's time and she would be endlessly hounded on by her sister about her big secret. All she had to do was say five simple words and nothing more. She could do this, she could do this.

An incoherent mumble escaped her lips, sounding less like words and more like animal noises. Yang couldn't understand her sisters babbling, but in her head, she just found it really adorable. She looked over to Blake in hopes that she understood what her sister had said, but all she got was a confused stare and a shrug of her shoulders.

"What was that sis?" Yang asks her sister, leaning closer to hear better.

Sweat was practically pouring down on Ruby's face. She repeats her words, her voice a bit louder; enough for Blake to hear, who's eye widen with surprise, but not enough for her sister to hear.

"Sorry, I can't quite hear you. You'll have to speak up."

"I'm in love with Weiss!"

Ruby immediately slapped her mouth with both hands. Panic began to slowly seep in as she saw her sister's reaction to her confession, by the way her eyes widen and her arms dropped to her sides, it was clear that she didn't expect it. This only confirmed Ruby's worst fears. Yang was disappointed and hated her for her preference and will never speak to her again or maybe never even acknowledge her as her sister anymore. All that was left was to wait for the impending looks of disappointment and words of hatred to come flying at her.

So it came as a surprise when she saw Yang grow a smug grin and cup one of her ears with her hand. "You hear that?" She asks teasingly.

"Er...n-no?"

"It's the sound of your big sister saying 'I told you so!'" Ruby winched at her sisters shouting, noticing that she was pointing a finger directly at her. "I knew you had a crush on her. And it only took you a week to figure it out."

Ruby felt herself growing smaller and smaller as she rubbed the back of her head anxiously. "I-it's not a big deal."

Yang's grin just grew even wider. "Are you kidding me? This is a huge deal for me! My baby sister has fallen for the Ice Queen."

"Yang..." Ruby whined.

"Ruby and Weiss, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-"

"Yang, behave." Blake stopped her girlfriend before she could finish her little sing-song. "Your sister just told us some confidential information about herself and you are relentlessly teasing her."

That seemed to shut the busty blonde up as she crossed her arms and pouted. Ruby let out a sigh of relief, feeling thankful for Blake. She had just saved her from an endless amount of teasing from Yang which she would rather not deal with today.

' _Thank you, Blake.'_ She thought to herself, smiling at the black-haired girl.

"How long have you had these feelings?"

Her smiling ceased.  _'Curse you, Blake.'_

"Apparently, they've been around for months, I just discovered them last week." She responded with uncertainty, unsure if her answer was true. "I don't know how I have not noticed them till now, but now I know that they are real and that's all that matters."

A small 'hmm' came from the dark-haired girl. "I presume that no one else knows about this."

"Technically, you two know about it, but yes, no one else knows about my sexuality."

"So why haven't you told mom and dad yet? This is something they should know about." Yang spoke in a tone that was soft yet stern.

Ruby shoved her hands into her hoodie's pockets, taking more of an interest in the floor than her sister. "I'm too afraid to tell them; to tell anyone really. I don't know how everyone will react, and I don't want to be mocked or made fun of just because I'm different."

While it wasn't really a major problem in her mind, Ruby knew that some individuals wouldn't accept her for who she loved. Either because of religious reasons or thinking it's just plain wrong, some people might look at her distastefully, make rude and hurtful comments or possible outright confront her if they knew about her sexuality. She doesn't want to stand out from the crowd, but the universe had other plans in mind.

"Well, you'll be glad to hear that I and Blake are a-okay with you!" Yang said with buckets of enthusiasm while giving a thumbs up.

Ruby whipped her head back up so fast that she thought it was gonna snap. "R-really? You're alright with me liking girls?"

Yang looked more dumbfounded than ever. "Of course I am. I'm dating Blake, remember? Why wouldn't I be okay with it?"

The crimsonette shrugged. "I don't know. I just find it a bit weird that the both of us happen to be gay."

"There is nothing wrong with you liking girls, Ruby. As long as they bring you happiness and joy, it doesn't matter what gender they are." Blake explained.

Her words got the gears in Ruby's brain turning. Was it wrong to love someone of the same gender? Well no, it isn't. It may look weird at first glance, but being gay was just another part of life, it's what makes us human. If people felt like it was a disgusting act to be committing, so be it, they have their opinions and she had hers. She supports Yang's own preference, so in her mind, she was in the right.

Actually, after thinking about it, she felt kinda stupid for believing that Yang would hate her for being a lesbian. She would never stop loving her baby sister, not in a million years, you would have to bribe her to hate Ruby and even then, Yang is a tough nut to crack. Even if she shaved off all of her hair, got tattoos covering all over her body and robbed a bank at gunpoint, the two would still have an inseparable bond. Okay, the bank robbery was probably a bit too extreme but it's a metaphor and it emphasises her point!

"Still, I can't believe that you're in love with the Ice Queen." Yang squealed like a little girl, her eyes sparkling in a way that Ruby has never seen before. "Ooooohhhhh, I can't wait to see you two all dressed up for your first date. It's going to be so adorable!"

It was those words that pulled her back into the depressing state she was in this morning. The harsh reality that she and Weiss and she would never be together was heartbreaking, to say the least. She still had hoped that there was a slight chance that there could be a relationship between them, but it was just out of reach. The only chance of it happening is if hell was frozen ten times over.

"If we go on a date." She said meekly.

Yang cocked an eyebrow, the joyful glee replaced with confusion. "Come again?"

Ruby hesitated for a moment before coming clean. "I-I… don't think there's a chance that I'll ever go out with Weiss."

A frown appeared on Yang's face, hating the solemn expression on Ruby's own. She glanced over at Blake who shared her concerned look before returning to the brunette. "And what makes you say that?"

"I'm just… I'm not…" Ruby paused to stop her twisting tongue, letting out a sigh. "I'm not good enough for her."

Yang could hear the defeat in Ruby's voice, the mood in the room dropping severely. "Come on sis, don't beat yourself up like this. That's not true and you know it."

"It's true Yang! I'm nowhere near her level!" Ruby yelled out of nowhere; not out of anger but out of denial.

"Don't say stuff like that. You totally deserve to be with her."

"We aren't talking about some ordinary girl, we're talking about The Weiss Schnee here," Ruby stated as calmly as she could muster. Her sister could be stubborn at times which was posing as a problem to her right now. When she didn't respond, Ruby continued on. "She's way smarter than me, everything she does is filled with grace and elegance, she's strong and confident when confronting a problem and she can intimidate anyone just by staring at them. Compared to me, she's royalty and I'm the peasant."

"Ruby, I'm the daughter of the mayor of the city. That practically puts me on an equal level with Weiss and yet your sister doesn't seem to mind." Blake reasoned with the doubting girl, looking over to the blonde bombshell.

"What can I say? I have high standards." Yang said while flicking a chunk of her blonde hair behind, making Blake blush slightly. That didn't stop Ruby's tirade, however.

"That's different Blake, you don't live in an oversized mansion down the street, you don't have a building in the middle of Vale with your family name on it, you don't have billions of lien available to you at the snap of your fingertips, you don't have a family legacy to back you up! Weiss has so many things to offer anyone and what do I have? Nothing!"

She didn't intend on shouting, but all the self-loafing that had built up inside Ruby for the past week needed to be let out by any means. When silence was all that followed, the guilt overtook her anger. She came here to talk to them about her problems and here she was biting their ears off. She was acting like a jerk; acting… un-Ruby-like.

She hung her head in sadness, not even bothering to face her sister directly in the eye. "I don't deserve her. She needs someone who can care for her and warm her heart, not a weird little kid who walks into things and does idiotic stuff all the time."

The only sounds that could be heard were cars driving by and birds chirping outside. Judging by the awkward silence, Ruby could only guess that Blake and Yang were at a loss for words, whether it was her choice of words or her unnatural behaviour, it left them speechless. She would understand if they couldn't help her, she was stuck in an unwinnable situation, she couldn't hold a candle to Weiss' status, she would never be on her level anytime in her life and she would never give Weiss the undefying love she had bottled up inside her.

It was Yang who finally broke ground. "Of all the things to beat yourself up over, this has to be the dumbest one yet."

Ruby blinked. "Huh?"

"You say your not good enough for her, that you will just hold her back and make her feel miserable, but you got it all wrong," Yang said while walking closer to Ruby cautiously.

Looking at her sister like she had grown a second head, Ruby tilted her head to one side. "What are you talking about?"

Yang's grin widened. "Tell me this sis. Who was the one to first approach Weiss and offer her their friendship?" She asked, tapping a finger on her hips.

Ruby scratched the back her head, not because she was anxious or couldn't remember who she was referring to, but because she had an itch to scratch. "Well…"

"And who planned out a surprise birthday party for her, even though she hates surprises?"

"There's that too…"

"And please remind me who invited her to our house for Christmas one year when her sister couldn't be there for her?"

"..." Ruby opened her mouth to respond but her words died in her throat before they could leave.

"You see where I'm getting at?" Yang slung an arm around the brunette's shoulders, pulling her closer. "You're more than good enough for her. You do so many things to make her happy and ask for nothing in return. She enjoys your company; if she didn't, she wouldn't even be talking to you. She likes having you as a friend because of how much you changed her life, without you, she would be a cold, harsh and stingy bitch, always obeying her douchebag of a father's orders because she thinks she's his 'pretty little princess'." Yang gagged at that last part, something that everyone in the room could agree on.

"There also the fact that you get her to smile the most out of all of us," Blake added.

"Yeah, that too!" Yang points a finger gun at the cat Faunus, a way of her saying thanks. "So what if Weiss has a butt load of lien in her pockets, that doesn't make her any different from you. She's willing to try things that any atlesian snob would scoff and turn their heads at, so you two are more similar than you believe to be. yeah, some of it is kinda stupid, but that's what makes it fun."

Ruby's eyes scanned the floor, having trouble believing that Yang was right. "I don't know…" She drawled out.

An exasperated sigh came from Blake as she stood up from the table and moved towards the sisters. "Look, neither I or Yang can confirm if Weiss feels same about you, but you can't just keep hiding it forever. You have to tell her how you feel about her. Every chance you miss to tell her is amiss at true happiness."

The Blonde "You got that from one of your romance novels, didn't you?"

The cat Faunus shrugged. "It works, doesn't it?"

Ruby could understand where Blake was getting at, but just to be sure… "You're sure that telling her is the right move?" She asked, looking up to her big sis.

The elder sister thought for a moment. "Well, not right now. Give it some time for this to settle and wait for the right moment to tell her. Like I said, she hates surprises, but not from you. You can think a way to confess to her; I know you can."

She had to admit, the strategy wasn't half bad. Telling Weiss directly was something she considered in her downtime, but she threw it out as a possibility almost immediately, thinking that she would somehow mess up the delivery and make herself look more like a dunce than the heiress often calls her. Maybe she was wrong though, she faced school bullies, infuriating tests and multiple social and family issues, and she's two years ahead of other teens her own age! She's more than capable of taking Weiss out on a date, she just needs to work up the courage to actually ask her.

Ruby smiled at her sister. It wasn't her strongest smile but it was a smile nonetheless. "Okay, I'll try."

"Good." Yang agreed, ruffling Ruby's hair which earned her a groan and a jab to the arm. She just laughed it off. "Now that we helped you with your problem, you can help me with mine." She pointed to her currently inactive motorcycle.

"Right!" Ruby said expressively, her mood doing a complete 180 from timid to hyperactive. "I'll go and get us some drinks."

She turned around and headed for the garage door into the house. When she got there, she twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

"Wait, don't open that door!" Blake quickly shouted while reaching out to Ruby.

"Don't do what?"

But it was too late. When the door was wide enough, Zwei came bursting through at full speed and made a beeline straight for Blake. The cat Faunus froze in fear before climbing on top of the table in a blink of an eye and backed away as far as she could, glaring at the menacing pup who was jumping in place to try and reach the table.

"Get away from me you deceptive beast!" She hissed, her eyes looking a bit more cat-like.

"He just wants snuggles, Blake." Ruby laughed.

"He wants to turn me into his chew toy!"

Yang watched as she witnesses her sister try to reason with Blake to let the little ball of fur in, only to get retorts and the occasional cat hiss every now and then. She chuckled, closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Some things never change."

* * *

Okay, let's go over chapter 6."

Pyrrha flipped back to the said chapter in her history book while Jaune, Ren and Nora shuffled around their notes lying on the coffee table of the living room. She was currently standing while the others were sitting on the living room couch. They had one last exam to finish on Monday so the group were having one last study session before their final test to be absolutely sure that they could pass.

As much as these sessions tend to drag on, they were going to miss them after today. It practically became a part of their weekly schedule, allowing the four to bond more often and for Jaune and Pyrrha to get 'intimate' as Yang would put it. As some form of tradition, the group would change who would be the teacher and whose house they would study at. This time, it was Pyrrha's turn to host the session.

"What was believed to be the turning point in the Faunus War?" Pyrrha asked.

Ren was the first to answer. "The battle of Fort Castle."

"Correct, and what advantage did the Faunus have over the human forces?"

"Oh, I know! I know! I know!" Nora waved her hand above her head as if she was still in school. It was time for another one of her ludicrous answer, the ones where you couldn't help but laugh at. Resisting would be a fruitless effort as even the sternest of people had to hold back giggles from the erratic redhead.

This time, however, Pyrrha was prepared for the craziness. She would keep a level head and concentrate on studying. There was nothing that Nora would say that would make her-

"Their army consisted of sloth Faunus!"

A snort came out of Pyrrha as she turned away with her hand to her mouth, holding back the laugh stuck in her throat. Jaune was doing the same although he was struggling and letting loose small chuckles, and Ren was just as silent and unmoving as he's always been.

"Nora, there is no such thing as sloth Faunus." He corrected the bubbly redhead. "Also, why would you think they would have sloth Faunus as part of their infantry?"

"'Cause sloths don't make any sounds! They'd make the perfect stealth team, sneaking into secret base undetected and fighting bad guys!" Nora proclaimed, flashing a toothy grin.

"Yeah, but they would also be the slowest stealth team in history," Jaune said at a mockingly slow pace. "By the time they infiltrate the enemy base, the war would have ended a hundred years ago."

"Not if they were genetically enhanced super sloths!" She said while flexing her surprisingly slender yet muscular arm.

"So two hundred years then, Great."

Laughter once again returned to Pyrrha's throat, although she did not try to hold it back. While Nora's humour wasn't her cup of tea, even though it did get her to laugh sometimes, Jaune's was oddly charming in a dorky kinda way. It was one of the qualities that made the blonde so attractive to her.

She hadn't realised that she was staring until the sudden sound of the doorbell ringing attracted everyone's attention.

"I'll get it," Jaune said as he got up from the couch and went out of the living room towards the front door, fixing his clothes to look more presentable.

He opened the door and was surprised to see Weiss standing before him. The heiress was looking just as professional as ever, although she seemed to lack the pride and confidence she would normally have due to the fact that she was currently kicking the ground with her toes absentmindedly.

"Oh um, h-hey there Snow Angel, f-fancy seeing you here!" Jaune stammered like an idiot in front of the heiress.

Weiss' anxious appearance disappeared as she scowled at the blonde boy. "What have I told you about calling me that?"

"I-It's just a nickname, n-nothing to get upset at." He tried to recover but failed once again.

"You know I hate being called that, especially from you." She huffed, holding an intimidating glare toward him for a moment. "Is Pyrrha home? I need to talk with her."

"Yeah, she's in the front room studying with us." Jaune motioning to the front room.

Weiss didn't respond and walked right past him like he was nothing. She didn't hate Jaune, far from it, she just found him really aggravating, mostly because of the dozen of failed flirting attempts he tried on her years ago, just thinking about them made Weiss shiver. It was one of the few memories of her post-Atlas childhood that she would rather forget.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she entered the living room with Jaune close behind her where she was met with a house welcoming smile from Pyrrha.

"Hello, Weiss. I wasn't expecting for you to visit." Pyrrha greeted her white-haired friend. "What brings you here? Have you come to join our study session? Your welcome to join in."

"Yeah! we could always use fresh meat!" Nora said, grinning maniacally and rubbing the palms of her hands together.

"Thanks, but I'm not here to talk about school work for once." Saying that made Nora and Jaune look at her dumbfoundedly. Weiss just rolled her eyes and continued. "I was wondering if I could speak to you in private. I understand if you're currently too busy at the moment."

"No, no it's alright, it's about time we took a break," Pyrrha reassured her, then turned to her other friends on the couch. "Sounds good to you guys?"

A collection of nods of the head and voices of affirmation came from Jaune, Ren and Nora; hers being the loudest out of the lot. With confirmation, Pyrrha returned to Weiss and gestured to another doorway.

"We'll talk in the kitchen." She headed towards the kitchen with Weiss following behind but not before taking one last glance at her friends who were relaxing on the couch, chatting about something that the heiress paid no interest in.

Entering the kitchen, Weiss made her way to the table sitting in the middle of the room while Pyrrha went for the kettle instead.

"Coffee?" She asked over her shoulder.

The Heiress took a seat at the kitchen table and nodded. "Yes please."

The redhead began to boil the kettle and set out two cups for them. After pouring the hot water into the cups, she took Weiss' coffee and placed it in front of her. The heiress wasted no time in taking a small sip from the cup, letting the hot liquid soak her taste buds for a moment before swallowing.

"Thank you." She said in a calm, composed manner.

"So…" Pyrrha took a seat next to Weiss, holding her own coffee with both hands. "What do you want to talk about?"

The white-haired girl's fingers tapped the coffee cup in her hands rhythmically, biting the top of her lip. "Have you ever had your emotions overwhelm you so much that you find yourself lost on what to do next?"

One of the redhead's eyebrow raised a little. "What do you mean?"

Weiss took another sip from her coffee before elaborating. "As you no doubt know, my childhood was a… troubled one. When my sister initially stepped down as heiress of the company, the title was rightfully passed down to me. I was only about 4 or 5 at the time, but nevertheless, I was more than pleased at the time. My father, however, was less than thrilled about it. Winter was his ideal heir, the perfect prodigy for his ever-growing tech empire. But that all disappeared when she renounced her title and joined the military. He never wanted me to be heiress because he thought I was weak and being an heiress would require a strong mind, so he made it his mission to mould me into a new Winter and became harsher in his judgement of me.

"It was stressful; trying to appease his demands. He would only accept the very best of me, so I pushed myself to achieve the highest possible standard in whatever task he gave to me. But no matter how much I tried, no matter how much time and energy I put into his requirements, he just stands there and gives me this look of disappointment. At the time, I didn't understand why he wasn't proud of my achievements, I just assumed it was because I did something wrong, that I made a mistake and had failed him. But it wasn't until months before his assassination that I learned the horrible truth."

Weiss frowned, pausing to look down into the black liquid in her cup and swirl it around. She wouldn't normally indulge herself in such a childish act, but it helped calm her nerves. Talking about her father was always difficult for her, even around her friends and family.

"He treated me not like a person or a daughter, but as an investment into his future." She continued. "He wanted his influence to continue in the company for years to come. Winter was original his key component in his plan and now the 'honour' was bestowed upon me. He wanted me to be flawless; absolutely perfect and nothing less, so he told me to subdue my emotions, said it would make me stronger, more confident in my abilities. In reality, it was just his subtle way of making me believe that his method of running the company was acceptable and unfortunately, it worked. Thanks to him, I became a cold, harsh individual.

"After moving to Vale, Winter encouraged me to open up again, to let my emotions out and express myself." She laughed softly, awkwardly smiling. "I chickened out on the first day of school, my father's opinion of 'friends are obstacles' stuck with me for a while along with the cold feeling of loneliness I felt since childhood. Thank god Ruby approached me when she did. That dolt helped me break from my shell and create a brand new life to replace the one that my father had once destroyed.

"But now Ruby has done something to me that I cannot explain. Every time I look at her or see her smile or even think about her, my heart fills with this unfamiliar warmth, my concentration goes all fuzzy and I completely zone out. I thought it was normal at first, that all friends have this feeling about each other, but this isn't a friendship I'm feeling for her, it's something more."

She stopped swishing her cup around, putting it back down on the table and looked up directly at Pyrrha, taking a small breather.

"Pyrrha, I think I'm in love with Ruby."

Throughout Weiss' explanation, Pyrrha hadn't reacted to anything the heiress had said until now. When she saw how Weiss transition from her past to Ruby, she had a suspicion on where this was going, but it didn't make the actual confession any less surprising.

The redhead took a long sip from her cup to calm herself and spoke up. "Well, that solves the mystery of why you were acting strange this week."

Weiss' skin paled slightly at that. "Was it that obvious?"

"To some, no. To others, maybe." Pyrrha responded with a sly smile.

A growl of frustration escaped Weiss' lips. "I can't help it, my parents never showed me any love growing up. I know Winter does love me, but she hasn't been around a lot due to her position at Schnee Tech, so my knowledge of love is limited."

"So you came to me to ask for my help?" Pyrrha guessed.

"I came to you to ask for advice." The alabaster girl confirmed, sounding desperate. "I can't handle all this emotional turmoil anymore. It's only been a week but I can't stop thinking about that dunce."

"It can't be that bad."

"The other night, I dreamt of Ruby lying in my bed in nothing but her underwear," Weiss said flatly.

It took a lot of willpower for Pyrrha not to spit out the coffee she was drinking. That came as a complete surprise to the athlete, out of everyone that she knew from her friends to her family, Weiss was the last person she would expect to have lewd thoughts. Yang would be on top of course, but the heiress should be at the bottom of that list. Apparently, she thought wrong.

"Oh." was her only response.

"Yeah,'oh'." The heiress replied sarcastically. She closed her eyes used her hand to massage her forehead to soothe the madness going on inside. "What do I do Pyrrha? What should I do next? Should I just ignore this feeling or should I tell her how I feel?"

"Trust me, Weiss, ignoring it is the last thing you want to do. You don't want to end up like Jaune now."

Weiss narrowed her eyes at the Amazonian girl. "He would have been with you sooner if you just confessed to him instead of flirting with him to get him to confess."

"It not my fault he was so oblivious. He was too focused on you, remember?"

A grimace grew across the heiress' face. "Can we not make this a discussion about Jaune's attempts to hit on me?"

Pyrrha only nodded at Weiss' request, not wanting to talk about it either. "As I was saying, you can't ignore your love for Ruby, it's a part of your life and giving up on her is pretty much giving up on yourself."

"Well, what should I do then? I don't want to unload everything on her all at once." Weiss

The way the heiress was behaving reminded Pyrrha of herself when she was flirting with Jaune, only this time, Weiss didn't know a thing about romance and was stuck up a creek without a paddle. Ruby was nowhere near as dense as Jaune when it came to subtle, but even then, Weiss would probably flop hard with just the pickup lines. It was only right for her to give her some love tips.

"If you don't want to try the direct way, then maybe you should consider the subtle way." She paused to take a sip of coffee, a sneaky way of teasing Weiss which seemed to have worked judging by the look she was giving. "Telling someone you love them straight off the bat can be overwhelming for some, and considering how expressive Ruby can be, I wouldn't put it past her that she would overreact, for better or worse. But if you take it slow and steady, you could make your confession a whole lot easier to handle."

Cocking an eyebrow, Weiss interlocked her hands together and rested them in front of her head like she was in a company meeting. "I'm interested."

"Start off by making nice gestures to Ruby; buy her flowers and sweets, take her out to places like the park or the movies more often and be more openly friendly to her. As you progress, make your moves more romantic, at your own pace of course, until you believe the moment is right to confess."

Weiss nodded, staring out the kitchen window. It seemed like the best course of action. Subtlety was always her strong suit and spending money on pleasantries wouldn't be a problem for her thanks to her wealth, but she wasn't sure she could pull something like this off.

"You're sure I can do something like that? It's not easy for me to keep a secret from Ruby," she asked, reminding her of the silver eyed girl's knowledge of the Schnee.

"You've dealt with your father for seven years, I believe you can handle a simple romance." The redhead encouraged.

Being reminded of her father caused a fire to be stoked inside the Ice Queen. She was right, she survived the treachery that was her father and the perils of becoming the heiress of Schnee Tech. She wasn't stopped then and she wouldn't be stopped now, especially to a fifteen-year-old who had an obsessive taste for cookies and a strange weapon fetish.

With some tension relieved, Weiss smiled lightly. "Thanks, Pyrrha. You're always someone I can count on for some sage advice."

"Just being a good friend." Pyrrha shrugged it off. She let out an amused giggle when a funny thought came to mind. "Although I'm still curious as to how Ruby managed to smitten you."

The heiress shared a giggle of her own, although a bit more subdued than Pyrrha's. "Yeah, I still can't believe I have fallen for that dolt."

"YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH RUBY?!"

The loud shouting startle both girls, making them jump in their seats and sending some of their coffee in the air. luckily, none of it was spilt on the table. They faced the living room doorway to see Nora standing in the doorway hunched over and with a flabbergasted expression. Behind her was Jaune and Ren, both peeking around the corner. Ren was just as stoic as always while Jaune looked absolutely terrified, especially when his eyes meet with Weiss'.

"We tried to stop her..." Ren began, sounding apologetic.

"...But she dragged us along instead." Jaune finished for him, sweating profusely.

"Oh. My. Gosh! This is perfect!" Nora smiled from ear to ear and zipped across the room next to Weiss and began to barrage her with countless questions. "When did you find out about your crush for Ruby?! What part of her do you like the most?! Does she know about it?! Are you going to ask her out?!"

But Weiss just ignored her as she groaned and rested her head in her hands.

"I'm so screwed."

* * *

Lady Luck was not on Roman Torchwick's side tonight.

His day was filled with nothing but delays and disappointments one after another. First, he gets stuck with the most worthless excuse for Faunus henchmen he's ever seen in his life, they probably can't even tie their shoelaces let alone rob a bank. The only thing they seemed good at was wearing matching uniforms with their black hoods, white vests and masks that obscure their eyes from the public.

Then, these criminal wannabees returned to their warehouse with a pitiful amount of dust. The task was simple; rob a dust store of all its contents and get the hell out of there before the cops showed up. They should have come back with a truckload of dust, instead, they only stole less than half of what he had anticipated, leaving him even more infuriated.

And now, his once pristine white coat was in complete and utter shambles. He just bought - or more accurately stole it just 2 days ago and it was already covered in dust; both dirt and powder kind. So tonight, he was in a sour mood, to say the least.

"Come on fellas, pick up the pace! We don't have all night!" Roman commanded, adjusting his black bowler hat.

Right now, he was having his worthless lackeys load all the dust they had been stealing over the past several months onto trucks to be sent to their secret hideout. One of the hooded Faunus with dog ears stumbled over his feet, nearly dropping the box of highly volatile Dust he was carrying, but he was able to recover and stable himself.

This didn't go unnoticed by Roman. "Careful with that! If you drop that, you will blow this whole warehouse to smithereens with us along with it!"

"Sorry, boss. it's not like I'm carrying a crate filled to the brim with Dust that weighs just as much as a two-ton weight now am I!" The henchman scowled, showing his canine sharp teeth.

"Quit complaining and get back to work, before I show you my really bad side." Roman threatened, pointing the end of his cane directly at the scowling henchman.

The Faunus grunt let out a disgruntled growl but relented and followed his orders. If there was one thing that Roman could enjoy from this train wreck, it was the commanding rule that he had over these animals. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't obey his demands, they would most likely want to beat him to a pulp, but due to some negotiations, they had no choice.

The sound of heels clicking on the concrete floor came to his attention and he turned to the source. Approaching him was a short female who was a mishmash of pink, white and brown; her hair, clothes and eyes were all on the same ice cream themed set. Her clothes had some similarities to Roman's, except she went for a tighter fitting jacket that showed the brown corset underneath. She walked with some style, twirling the pink parasol resting on her shoulder with a mischievous smile.

"Neo, so glad could join us." Torchwick greeted his sidekick/bodyguard, smiling for possibly the first time tonight. "So what have you brought for me today?"

The tiny girl known as Neo nodded and proceeded to pull out a scroll from her pocket and handed it to Roman. He looks at the screen and his face lights up in less than a second.

"Oh. Oh ho ho, now this job just got interesting." Roman gloats as an evil as heck smirk crept onto his face. He walks over to the table lying in the middle of the dingy warehouse with Neo right by his side and takes his spot at the head of the table.

"Oh, boys!" He calls out to his goons, watching them stop in place and look in his general direction. Soon, all of them began to gather around the table, either looking irritated or impatient.

"We have our next target." He chucked the scroll into the middle of the table for everyone to see. On the device was a picture of a building sitting on an ordinary street. No one could make out where exactly where it was, but everyone could make out the emblem at the entrance.

A white snowflake with the words 'Schnee Tech' labelled across it.


	7. End of The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M NOT DEAD!
> 
> Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it? sorry for leaving for such a long time. I had a lot of stuff happening in my life. With my birthday, planning next year at college and the passing of my dog, I haven't had much time to write. But I've got his finished now so better late than never I guess.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The Rose/Xiao Long household was wide awake as the residents of the building were preparing for a very special day. Yang had to admit, she had never seen her family so excited yet frantic all at once. She had only witnessed this phenomenon once, back when Ruby was has bumped up two grades when she was just five and that was pretty tame compared to this, but there was a good reason for all the hysteria.

Today was the day that Yang would be graduating from Signal High, and it wasn't just her. Ruby, Blake, Weiss and all of her friends would be joining her on stage to receive their high school diplomas. It felt a bit weird to think that her little sister would be joining her on the journey to the real world, but she couldn't be any more proud of her. She couldn't wait to see her sister graduate, she just has to survive the preparations first.

"Okay sweetie, show me that smile," Taiyang asked, positioning the camera to get Yang into the frame. The older sibling smiled although it looked strained like she had been smiling for quite a while. A flash came from the camera as Tai took the photo and looked at the final result. "Oh wait, my thumb was in the frame."

"Dad, come on! You've been at this for hours." Yang exaggerated, her posture slumping slightly. "I'm not even dressed in my robes yet, can't you wait until then to flash that camera in my face?"

"And not have a chance to take one last picture of my baby girl before she becomes an adult? nuh uh." The blonde haired man shook his head. "I want to remember this moment for years to come."

Yang sighed, crossing her arms in annoyance. In truth, her father had been attempting to take her picture for only fifteen minutes, but it felt like hours to her. In the corner of her eye, she spotted her mother walking into the room, fixing her hair into her usual style.

"Mom, can please stop Dad from wasting all the memory on the card before we arrive at the school?" She asked her mother desperately.

"You're taking pictures already?" Summer asked sounding surprised. Tai only nodded which made her squeal. She moved to her husband side and leaned a hand against his shoulder. "Show me, I want to see how they turned out."

"Mom! You're not helping!" Yang moaned, her face turning beet red.

Her mother chuckled lightly. "Cut your father some slack Yang, this is a very emotional day we've been expecting for years. It's not every day that our two daughters graduate together."

"Yeah, but it's embarrassing. I hope you don't act like this when we get there, because I'd rather not have everyone look at us like we're wanted criminals."

"I'm can't help it, it's just… I can't believe that my daughters are finally graduating." Tai rubbed one of his eyes, wiping the tears of joy from them. "It brings your old man to tears."

His dramatic expressions made Yang roll her eyes. "Don't cry a river dad. We all know this day would come eventually."

"That doesn't mean I wasn't prepared for it. It only felt like yesterday when I first held you in my arms." Tai's reminiscence made Summer chuckle and Yang groan. Noticing her step daughter's mood, Summer made her way to her side.

"No need to worry, honey. She may be all grown up, but she will still be our sunny little dragon." She said, smiling as she hugged her eldest daughter.

Yang returned a smile of her own and embraced her mother. "And you'll still be my parents."

Calling Summer her mother was nothing strange for Yang, she knows that she isn't her real mom and that she and Ruby are only half-sisters, but that didn't matter. Summer was more than mother than hers even was and Ruby was the best thing that could ever happen to her. She loved her family, more than anything, even if they can be embarrassing and overly emotional.

She was so wrapped up in her hug with Summer that she failed to notice Tai walking over and lifting them up in his own hug, although a bit more bone crushing than it should be. Yang would try to wriggle free, but she decides to enjoy it this time.

Eventually, Taiyang released his grip on the two woman, allowing them to breathe again. "Hey, can you go tell your sister to come downstairs? It's almost time to leave."

Yang was already on her way to the stairs at the mention of her sister. "Roger that, old man." She mocked a salute, making her father roll his eyes, and climbed the stairs to the upper level of the house. When she reached the top, she strutted over to the door marked with the words 'Ruby's Room' and prepare to knock.

Before she could knock, the sound of a voice - obviously Ruby's - came from beyond the wooden barrier, but it was too muffled to understand what she was saying. Yang knew that only her family were in the house at the moment, so who was Ruby talking to? Letting her curiosity control her, she presses her ear against the door and listens closely.

"Hey there… babe. Are you a library book? cause I want to check you out… No, that's too suggestive." Ruby's voice sounded confident at first but turned irritated in a second. "Um, hey! I should call the cops, cause you stole my heart… ugh, no! that's too extreme!"

Hearing that was enough to make Yang smirk. Her sister was practising pick up lines and by the sounds of it, failing badly. Normally, this is the part where she would knock on the door again and call out to the romanticizing redhead like a good big sister, but there was no way she was passing up on this opportunity for potential teasing material.

She opened the door slowly to not make her presence know. Across the room, she could see her little sister, staring at her own reflection in the mirror, taking deep breaths like she was calming herself. 'That solves the mystery of who's she talking to.' Yang concluded.

"Okay, how about… Are you a dictionary? cause you're adding meaning to my life." The silver eyed girl attempted to pull off a suave smile while pointing her fingers like guns at herself, but eventually, it turned into a frustrated growl. "Uggghhhh! Why is this so hard? It looked easier in the movies."

Seeing her sister struggle was adorable and all, but it was time for Yang to activate her big sister mode.

"Wow, and I thought Pyrrha was obsessive." She spoke up as she entered the room.

"Gah!" Ruby jumped out of her skin, nearly falling face first to the ground, but quickly recovered and shifted her gaze to her sister. "Yang! Don't you know you need to knock before you enter somebody's room?"

"Geez, could you sound any more like Weiss?" Yang promptly received a pillow to the face and an angry pout from her sister, although it looked more adorable than anything else. She laughed nervously as she eyed a sheet of paper taped to the mirror with the one-liners scribbled across it. "I would ask you what you are up to, but this just speaks for itself." She said pointing to the paper in question.

Ruby seemed to freeze on the spot, her expression softening as she stuffs her hands into her hoodie. Eventually, she sighed and relented. "Alright, I'm practising how I'm going to ask Weiss on a date. I want to pop the question to her after graduation."

"You're asking her out already?" Yang asked curiously. When all she got was a meek nod, she whistled. "Damn Sis, it's only been about a week and your already taking the big leap."

"So? You and Blake told me to confess to her directly, did you not?"

"I know we did, I just wasn't expecting you to do it so soon."

"I'll have to do it sooner or later. After the summer, all of us will be going off to college or university or some other kind of place to earn a living." Ruby explained. "While we may go to the same college, maybe even share a room together, Weiss will be by her sister's side learning the ins and outs of Schnee Tech. We won't be able to hang out as much afterwards, so seeing as this might be our last full summer together, I want to spend that time with Weiss as my girlfriend."

"So you're going to try and win her over by spouting out over the top, cheesy one-liners?" Another nod of the head was what she got. When Ruby did this more often, it was a sign that she was nervous about talking and it clearly shows. "Hate to break it to ya Rubes, but I'm afraid none of these will work on old Weissicle."

"What do mean it won't work? You do it to Blake all the time." Ruby questioned.

"She's actual tolerant enough to put up with my puns, some even get her to laugh. Weiss, on the other hand, hates them. I'm sure she would strangle me to death if she heard my jokes for a whole day nonstop and yours are… well... just garbage."

"My lines are not garbage."

"'Are you a dictionary? cause you're adding meaning to my life.'" Yang repeated what she had heard early and shot Ruby a look. "Seriously?"

Yang watched as her little sister's face flushed red, shuffling her feet against the carpet as she rubbed the back of her head. "... That one's a work in progress."

Seeing that this was getting them nowhere, Yang shook her head and sighed. "Look, It's good and all that you're putting all your heart and soul into this, it really shows your love for the old Ice Queen, but I think you're going a wee bit overboard on this one Sis."

"Says the girl who punches drunk men through windows when they touch your hair." Ruby retorted, crossing her arms and smiling smugly. Everyone knew Yang for many things, her passion and care for her own hair being one of her more infamous tidbits.

"Hey! You know how much time it takes to get this beauty the way I want every morning." Yang defended, taking a chunk of her golden mane and stroking it like a pet.

"Doesn't mean you get to kill someone who does so much as brush it."

"The only people I trust with my hair is you, Blake, Mom, Dad and myself," Yang elaborated. "Back on topic. Everyone has their own way of conveying love to their special someone. Take me for example, I tell my brilliant puns to Blake to show my undying love for the kitty kat, I even incorporate her love for books and fish into some of them. It's just my way of being me.

"But you are not me. You're Ruby Rose, you are an honest, sweet and friendly type of girl who always knows the right thing to do. Subtle isn't one of your strengths, you have a hard time keeping secrets from us, so flirting won't be your kind of thing either. You are very expressive when it comes to your emotions, which means you should get straight to the point with your confession."

Yang had hoped that she had given her little sister the courage she needed to come out. She could remember her admission from last week and the pep talk she gave her on love confessions and she saw how Ruby had built up some courage from it, but all of that was all but forgotten by the silver-eyed girl because of a need for perfection.

"But I… I want this to go right. Weiss and I have been best friends for years now and I don't want to ruin it because of a crush. It has to be perfect. It just has to be." The fear in her eyes was real. It was akin to when Yang had her doubts about confessing to Blake, only ten times worst. Luckily, She had overcome this obstacle before and so could her sister.

"If you want to tell Weiss how you feel today, fine by me, I'm not going to stop you." Yang lowered herself to her sister's level as she rested her hands on Ruby's shoulders, seeing some hope come back into her eyes. She was about to speak up but Yang continued. "But what I am going to do is tell you to be honest with her and tell her the truth. No pickup lines, no romantic schemes that involve some crazy amount of planning, nothing. Just be yourself and be honest with her."

The fleeting glances towards the ground that Ruby did was a sign that she had listened and was considering the new possibilities she was given. It wasn't much, but it was something that Yang would take. Any confidence was better than none at all.

"Glad I could be of service." She said rather cheerfully while patting her sister's shoulders. "Now get your hopeless butt out of this room. Mom and Dad are waiting for us downstairs." With that, she leapt up from the floor and left the room, leaving the door open.

Left to her lonesome, Ruby began pondering on a new plan of attack. Honesty was something she always felt rather comfortable with growing up. Very rarely was she caught lying to others, but there was no selfless intent behind them, only to keep a surprise or to joke around. Being honest with love was a different story, especially with Weiss in her crosshairs. She had come to grips with the Heiress' beauty she discovered, but that doesn't mean her words get caught in her throat and turn her into a bumbling mess. She was sure that any strategy she came up with would end in her embarrassing herself.

She knew one thing for certain: She will talk to Weiss at some point in the night and tell her how she feels about their friendship. She could do this… probably… maybe…

…

She was going to crash and burn.

* * *

The Ceremony had happened fast and brought some fond memories.

Weiss never felt any more pleased with herself when she walked on stage and accepted her diploma, her hard work and persistence finally paid off. While it was just a roll of paper with, it was a milestone of her progress from the day she first arrived in Vale. Nothing could make this any better, although she did wish that Winter was here to witness this moment, but that what happens when your sister is the head of the single biggest tech provider in the world.

Secretly, she was jealous towards her friends, for they had families who came to watch, cheer and support them, but also thankful at the same time. She could envision her parents sitting amongst the crowd wearing emotionless masks, clapping not because they were proud of their daughter, but because they had an image to uphold.

There were some families that she was glad that she didn't have thought. Blake's parents were just as embarrassing as they have ever been with a few tears here and there. Needless to say that Blake wanted to buried in the earth for the rest of the day.

Her highlight of the day, however, was witnessing Ruby receiving her diploma and the bright, infectious smile she wore for the rest of event. Knowing that Ruby was happy made Weiss happy, even more so because of her recently discovered crush for her, seeing her smile made her heart flutter inside her chest.

Even now, her eyes were glued to the red themed girl from the booth she was seated. To celebrate their recent graduation, Weiss had invited everyone for an evening out for dinner; her treat. At the moment, half of the group had gone to the bar to place their orders and get their drinks, leaving just her, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora sitting in the booth. It wasn't busy nor was it quiet and somewhat reeked of alcohol, but that didn't deter her from lovestruck view.

"It was quite nice of you to treat us to dinner Weiss." Pyrrha's compliment almost went over Weiss' head, but she was able to pick it up at the last second.

"Yeah! You must be in like a really good mood if you did this all for us!" Nora leaned in, a bit too close for comfort, but Ren was on standby to pull the living battery back to her seat.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, no problem." Weiss responded hastily, too focused on the girl of her dreams chat away with her sister as they waited for their drinks. God even in that same red hoodie she still looks good.

Pyrrha followed her line of sight and gave off a sly smile. "I see you've still got googly eyes for little Ruby."

Weiss let out a love-filled sigh. "I know, just look at her. She's just so… adorable. Her bright eyes, her sweet personality, and that laugh; oh that laugh. It's like a chorus of angels every time I hear it." She didn't know why, but after discovering her feelings for the brunette, all of her qualities - include her less desirable ones - were amplified to the max. Never in her life would she think that Ruby's clumsiness would be so appealing.

"You've really fallen for her." Pyrrha said, not bother to phrase it as a question.

"Yeah…"

"Have you made a move yet?"

She sighed again, only it was more resentful than her previous one. "Unfortunately not."

"Oh come on! You're dragging this out like one of those comical romance movies that Pyrrha watches." Nora's complaint was enough to make the amazon blush while Weiss was finale broken from her trance on Ruby and shot back a glare. "What, do you happen to have plans to stage an argument with her over conflicting opinions near the end which will separate you but eventually helps you two's bond grow stronger and then you confess?"

"I do have a plan, thank you very much." The Heiress grew a small smirk. Her friends should know by now that she always has a plan. "I have an idea of how to start this off, although it will take some time to put it into motion, I can wait. Patience is a virtue."

Before they could ask anything about what she had planned, the rest of their friends returned with their drinks in hand. "We're back bitches!" Yang made her presence known by shouting at the top of her lungs. "And we have the drinks, so dig in!"

Yang and Blake took their seats at one end of the booth, handed Ren and Nora their drinks while Weiss and Pyrrha got up to allow Jaune to slide in with his and Pyrrha's drinks. That left Ruby to sit down and hand Weiss hers.

"Here you go, Weiss. Water, just like you asked." She smiled sheepishly, missing the slight trembles she was having as she outstretched her arm.

_'Cute.'_  Weiss thought. A small smile was on her face as she took the glass from her friend. "Thanks, Ruby. At least some of you have some decency." She shifted her gaze to the blonde at the opposite end of the table who shivered from her icy stare.

"What? Can't a girl just be happy about finally leaving the most boring place on Remnant?"

"Yes, but not everyone celebrates by swearing at the top of their lungs." Blake proclaims.

"Pyrrha did once." Jaune blurted out, an action that caused the redhead in question to almost spilt out mid-drink. Everyone stared at the couple (mostly at Pyrrha) with wide eyes, they know her as a respectable winner in her sports, so they have never heard her curse after a win.

"She did what now?" Ruby asked what everyone had on their mind.

"When I said yes when she asked me out, she left the room and screamed with a sailor's mouth." Jaune explained, not noticing his girlfriend's face which read 'please don't do this'." She said some words that I didn't know even exist, and some even weirder words like-Oof!"

Jaune winched in pain as he was stopped abruptly by an elbow to the ribs from Pyrrha who was sweating bullets.

"Anyway, Let's not dwell on the past too much now and celebrate our victory, shall we!" She laughed nervously, wiping her brow from all the sweating

"Y'know, it's not really a celebration until we bring out the big guns." Nora points out as swirled her glass in her hand.

Yang nodded and slammed her hand onto the table, shaking most of the other drinks. "Yeah, after we're done with the main course we are going to drink like It's the end of the world!"

"Absolutely not." Weiss immediately halted Yang's idea, resulting in the blonde bombshell pouting. "We are not getting drunk on a night like this."

"But it's a night out on the town. You have to have at least one drink." Yang pleaded, holding out a single lone yellow finger.

"Need I remind you that one of us is only fifteen and thus can not consume alcohol at all." The Heiress chided, not budging from her point. "Plus, when you and Nora get drunk, you two seem to somehow get caught up in the weirdest of situations."

Yang waved off her accusation and averted her gaze. "I haven't got a clue of what you are talking about."

"Remember that party we had at one of our teacher's house when they were out of town?" Ren exclaimed.

"Uhhh…"

"The same party where Nora snapped a pool table in half and you took a shit on his computer?" Blake jumped in with her own account of the night.

Yang remained silent. Being backed into a corner by your friends was never a good experience for anyone, especially when They're right. "...In my defence, I did have a lot to drink that night."

Her poorly constructed excuse made Weiss smirk. "I rest my case then. We are not drinking any alcohol and that's final."

Bumped out and mood somewhat ruined, Yang slumped down in her seat and crossed her arms, her stare on Weiss. "Spoilsport."

"Blonde brute." Weiss fired back with a stare of her own.

The girls would have probably killed each if this continued, but thankful, Jaune stepped in to break it up. "Hey now, let's not start bickering to one another. We should be celebrating our victory together."

Ren nodded in agreement and put in his own two cents. "Jaune's right, this is the biggest night of our lives. We're moving on to a bigger world than ever before, and with that comes new challenges. We have faced many problems over the years; whether it was personal or physical."

"Yeah! and we were able to power through it all!" Ruby shot in with her enthusiasm at max settings, lifting the mood significantly. "Sure we had our rough spots here and there, and thought we couldn't make through but here we are now, growing out of our childhood years and into adulthood. We all have bright futures ahead of ourselves and none of us would have those futures if we didn't have each other. So let's have a toast."

She picked up her drink from the table and raised it high above her head. "To ten years of friendship, to all the challenges we've overcome and to our futures and whatever they may hold. Cheers!"

She heard some small giggles and saw smiles ranging from subtle curves to wide grins appear on her friends as they grabbed their own drinks and followed Ruby's actions, the familiar sound of glasses clinking together emanated around them.

"Cheers!"

The night continued on without a hitch. The newly graduated teens talked to one another until the waiters arrived with their food. The meal was 'to die for' depending on who you're were asking, but it was apparent that everyone enjoyed their meal. There weren't any more scuffles between Weiss and Yang for the rest of the night except for the occasional plead from the blonde followed by the immediate shutdown from the Ice Queen. All in all, tonight's celebration was going swimmingly.

After their empty plates were taken away and they had ordered another set of drinks for the table, Weiss had excused herself from the booth to use the facilities. As soon as she was through those doors, Ruby got up from her seat, ready to follow after her. Now was the time to get the hardest part of the night out of the way. A bathroom isn't particularly an ideal spot for confessions of love, but if it gave her the chance to be alone with Weiss she was going to take it.

She didn't get very far as her sister noticed her leaving and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her back to her level. "Where're you going?" She asked in a whisper.

"Now's my chance to ask you know who about you know what," Ruby answered, nodding her head in the direction of the restrooms.

It took a moment for Yang to put the pieces together, but when she did, she released her grip and smiled. "Then what are you waiting for? Go get her tiger."

With that, Ruby left the table and made her path across the restaurant floor, weaving her way pass by other patrons and employees, being careful not bump into them; don't want to end up drenched in smelly fish or stinky when confessing to Weiss, now don't we?

She didn't enter the restroom immediately, instead, taking the time to psyche herself up.  _'It's not that hard. Just be you and everything will go fine. You can do this. You can do this.'_  She repeats this mantra several times in her head, taking slow breaths to calm her mind. Once she felt that she was ready, she moved forward and push through the door that leads to her goal.

Entering the restroom, the first thing she saw was Weiss staring into the mirror above the sink with unfocused eyes, like she was deep in her own thoughts. Ruby took note of the unlocked stalls to her right; all empty, leaving just her and Weiss. thank god for that.

"You ok?" She asked as she took a few steps closer.

Weiss slightly but didn't look back, instead opting to use the mirror to see her companion. Her eyes wandered to the girl in red's reflection and her posture relaxed. "I'm fine, just… thinking about things."

"What things?"

There was a sigh from the Heiress before she explained. "About what you said back at the booth, about how much has changed over the past few years and how different I am from when I first arrived here."

"Yeah, I remember how harsh and reclusive you were back then. You wouldn't even talk to me and ignore me." That got the Heiress to smile and let out a suppressed laugh.

"To be fair, I did find you rather annoying at the time." She pointed out.

"I was five years old, what did you expect from me?" The crimsonette defended.

"I certainly wasn't expecting a red-headed girl to walk up, sit next to me and started talking like we've been friends for years."

"Yeah, we didn't start off on best of terms." The young girl absentmindedly kicked the ground, watching Weiss' face briefly turn to a grimace through the mirror. "But look at us now, ten years later and we turn out to be the best of friends. I guess you could say that it was fate that brought us together."

"Mmhmm."

Silence filled the restroom, leaving an awkward pause lingering in the air. Ruby didn't know how to continue from that, any thought of words just die in her throat before they left her mouth. She couldn't just say 'Hey, I think I have a really big crush on you. Do you want to start dating?', not only is that random and unexpecting, it wasn't very memorable for a confession.

"Ruby, I want to thank you." The ivory haired girl spoke first, turning away from the mirror to the girl in question.

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "What for?"

Weiss rolled her eyes as she pushed off from the sink, mover closer to her friend. "Everything. All the times you were there for me when I need it, the times you made me feel like I was worth something, the times you dragged me along on one of your crazy and absurd adventures. Your friendship is something I treasure more than anything. I don't know how many times I have thanked you but… Thank you."

Hearing a complaint from Weiss was rare, but to hear one like that is one in a million, and yet it's still enough to make Ruby chuckle nervously. "It was nothing Weiss. In all honesty, I should be thanking you too. You helped me with the majority of my school work in the later years, with me skipping some years of my education, it was quite a leap in difficulty, so you're assistance was welcomed. When I was one who felt small and helpless, you came to my aid. When I did something stupid or screwed something up, you were there to correct it. You were there for me as much as I was for you."

"Well, I guess we both needed each other without really knowing it."

"Yeah."

The two stood there in silence once again, their eyes locked on to one another like life depended on it. It was at this point that both girls noticed how close to each other they were, just mere inches away from rubbing against one another, but neither side cared, as they were too busy lost in each other's eyes.

_'This is your chance, Ruby.'_  Ruby's inner conscience said to her brain.  _'She's standing right in front of you and you two just shared a touching moment together. Now's the perfect time to ask her out. Go on, just say it. Say it!'_

She swallowed her hesitation as she opened her mouth and...

A ringing noise echoed through the room, halting Ruby and confusing both girls. The source of the was soon discovered as Weiss fished through her handbag and pulled out her scroll, sighing once she took a glimpse at the screen. "Excuse me for one moment Ruby. I need to take this call." She said apologetically.

Ruby visibly frowned as she took more of an interest to the floor. "Oh, um that's okay." She said timidly.

She couldn't see the concerned expression on Weiss' face, but that was soon replaced with a mask of indifference. as she returned her attention to her now annoying ringing scroll. While she was answering the call, the silver-eyed girl lost her focus when the voice in her head spoke up.

' _You chicken. You had one job Ruby, one job and you screwed it up. How could manage to mess up something so simple? Weiss is right, you really are a dolt; a stupid, naive, childish dolt who can't even talk to her best friend without blushing like an idiot. You're just a… just a-'_

"The building is what!?" Weiss' outburst broke Ruby from her thoughts, making her jump. The heiress face was a mixture of shock, anger and fear."Where is it?"

It was hard to tell what the voice on the other end was saying, as it was nothing but inaudible squeaking to Ruby's ears. Whatever was said, however, was enough for Weiss' mask to shattered and become a harsh and infuriated scowl.

"I'll be right there." Weiss immediately hung up after that and buried the scroll back into her handbag, fixing the strap across her shoulder. "I'm sorry Ruby, but I must be leaving now. See you later, have a wonderful night." She said with a suddenly calm tone as walked past the brunette towards the door.

"But I-" But she couldn't get another word out as Weiss was already out the door.

In some strange sense, Ruby couldn't help but feel like this was somehow her fault, that universe just really enjoyed seeing her suffer and made a problem that would most likely link back to her one way or another. But she did nothing wrong, the fault lied within that phone call a minute ago. Most likely, Weiss is heading to its origin which the red theme girl could assume it's related to her family company, making this a personal matter. Because of that, maybe she shouldn't intrude in on Weiss' business and let her handle it.

No. She did not come this far to give up now. Yang wouldn't, Mom wouldn't, so why should she? She was going to help Weiss and be her knight in shining armour.

She left the restrooms and returned to her table to see that her friends were still there, but Weiss was nowhere to be seen. "Hey, Ruby, what's up with Weiss? She came back, slammed some lien on the table and walked out without uttering a word to us." Jaune looked just as confused as everyone else when their eyes were all on Ruby.

The silver-eyed girl could only shrug for an answer. "I haven't gotta clue. I was talking to her about the summer when she got a call from somebody. Next thing I know, she's saying goodbye and walking out the door."

"Should we follow her?" Blake asked no one in particular. Everyone sitting at the table was unsure of what to do next. No one knew what exactly was wrong with the Ice Queen as there were no hints in her posture or her emotions. The only thing they could get from her was that something had ticked her off and she needed to handle it herself. Other than that, they were left in the dark.

They went to ask Ruby for more details, but that was made impossible as she was no longer with them. Instead, she was running out of the restaurant and turning down the street after her white-haired friend. Everyone just looked back at each other.

"I'll take that as a yes." Yang gave the answer before she proceeds to pay for her and Ruby's meals and quickly got up after her sister. It wasn't long before everyone else paid their share and followed the blonde out the door, after their friends.

* * *

Ruby ran like she never ran before, pushing her legs to keep going until they died of exhaustion. She was thankful that the city streets were awfully baron tonight, meaning no scuffles or collisions that would waste her time. She was vaguely aware that her friends were right behind her chasing after her, but she was solely focused on finding Weiss, hoping that she didn't cause any problems back at the restaurant.

Eventually, she caught a glimpse of white as it turned a corner and she quickly increased her speed to catch up.

"Weiss, wait up!" She called out to the heiress. She looked back behind her briefly to see that the rest of her friends were not far behind. When she got within talking distance, she asked, "What's going on? Why did you leave in such a hurry? Was it something I said? Did I upset you?"

"None of this is your fault, Ruby," Weiss assured, not bothering to turn and face her friend. "It's just some unexpected family matters that I need to take care of."

"Family Matters?" It wasn't explained any further when the two rounded another corner and stopped in the middle of the street, finding their answer.

In front of them was a Schnee Tech Storage and Testing facility, built for the creation and protection of Schnee branded inventions. Ruby remembered passing by it on the way to the restaurant, but she didn't remember black smoke spewing out of the entrance, windows and roof of the building with the occasional flickers of orange. By the colour of the smoke, she could tell that the fire had been burning for several minutes now. There were a few staff members already out, but most of them were either rest on the ground, coughing heavily from inhaling the smoke or both.

Both girls were so transfixed by the burning building that they completely forgot that their friends were right behind them, something they only remember when they caught up.

"Ruby, Maybe you could slow down next- Holy crap!" Yang cried out as she and the rest of the group joined the red and white duo in their horror.

"I'll call the fire department." Jaune pulled out his scroll and immediately dialled the emergency service number, leaving the rest to watch the disaster unfold before them.

"It's worse than I thought." Weiss murmured in disbelief as she watched her family legacy burning away. Her gaze landed on an employee who was resting against a street lamp. The panic expression she wore turned into a deep scowl as she approached him. "You there!"

The man in question jumped a little as he looked up to meet the girl's icy stare. "Ah, M-m-miss Schnee! S-so glad you c-could make it!" He stuttered, all of his nerves being thrown out the window.

"Spare me with the pleasantries. What happened here?" The Heiress stood over him with dominance, her tone stern and commanding.

"A fi-fire broke out in the f-facility and is raging out of control."

"I can see that you imbecile!" She gestured to the building with her name on it, making the sacred employee shrink in on himself. "How did it caught fire in the first place?!"

"We don't know. We were all working our hardest on the projects and inventions when we heard the sounds of explosions coming from the lower levels." The man explained, pausing briefly to catch his breath. "We couldn't tell if it were from bombs or an error in the lab. We got out as fast we could, but there are still people trapped in there. We tried to help rescue some of them, but none of us are in any condition to venture back in there."

Weiss was going to question him some more, but he suddenly broke out into a coughing fit, his hand clutching his chest most likely because of the pain. Each heaving cough became worse than the last, giving everyone a vague estimate on how large had become. Pyrrha quickly went to the man's aid, helping him

"Everything's going to be okay. Just sit down and rest, you deserve it." She said

As she was finishing up, Jaune got off the call from the emergency services."Firefighters are on their way. They'll be here in about 10 minutes."

"What if they don't make it in time?" Nora asked, unsure if she would get a clear answer.

"They have to. Lives are on the line here." Jaune made an effort to make a positive response, but it was obvious that he had his doubts.

"Unfortunately, even if they are quick on the response, It'll already be too late. There's highly volatile Dust and equipment in that building. The whole building will be blown up by the time they arrive." Weiss' explanation caused the hope in her friend's faces to drop.

"What should we do then? We can't just stand here and do nothing." Yang said, still believing there was something they could do, but Weiss could only deject her pleads.

"I'm afraid that's all we can do." She stated somberly. She wished she could do more to help, but their options were limited. "We stay here and help any survivors who escaped in time. They'll need some medical attention until emergency services arrive. That's all we can do for now. The fire is out of control at this point, going in there is practically suicide-"

"Hey kid, where are you going!?" One of the workers shouted out, getting the attention of everyone in the area including Weiss. She saw that the employee appear to be trying to stop someone from entering the building so she turned to the entrance to see who was stupid enough to run headfirst into a burning building without thinking.

She felt ice building up in her stomach when saw a figure running into the smoking building, one who was dressed in a red hoodie and black skirt.

She also noticed that there was somebody missing from the group, which meant...

"Ruby Rose, what are you doing!?" Weiss shouted as loud as she can, her ears practically pouring out more smoke than the fire. "Get back here this instant you dolt!"

But it was no use. Ruby was too far in to hear any cries from the outside, and she was probably too distracted to answer her scroll, so any attempt in pulling her back was futile.

She groaned as she grasped her head in frustration. "Is she crazy!? She's going to get herself killed!" Weiss was now considering how to make the crimsonette suffer when she got her hands on her. Perhaps she should ban her from her cookies for a month, or maybe she should make her write an essay on the dangers of risking your life to be a hero. Yeah it was beginning of summer and she had no authority to force such action upon someone, but god damn it, she will be sure that Ruby will not hear the end of this.

After getting her bearings together, she looked to her friends to see that they shared her frustrations and concern for the 15-year-old. But then she looked over at Yang and any anger she felt towards Ruby had been forgotten.

Yang was staring directly at the entrance where Ruby was last seen, her eyes had a sense of deja vu to them along with terror. A quick glance down at her hand revealed that it was twitching erratically, an all too familiar quirk that everyone knew the meaning behind.

"Yang?" Blake knew that look in her girlfriend's eye, it something she had seen for the past two years.

"No. Not again. Please not again." Yang shook her head in denial, her breathing became loud and raspy. Scared was not enough to describe her at the moment, it almost looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Without warning, The blonde's eyebrows furrowed as she took a powerful first step towards the burning building. Blake immediately took action and lunged at her around underneath and around her shoulders. "Yang, no! It's too dangerous!" She shouted, using all of her strength to hold her back.

"Let me go, Blake! I have to go in after her!" Yang demanded as she thrashed about in her girlfriend's grip.

"You heard what Weiss said. The fire is too intense, it could burn you to a crisp!" She tried to reason with her but Yang responded by pulling even more. Jaune, Pyrrha and Nora all chipped in to hold the blonde back, but even then, she was still tough to pin down.

"I don't care what happens to me! All that matters is Ruby's safety, not mines!"

"Deep breathes Yang. Control your anger." Ren said as he attempts to sooth Yang by making rubbing motions on her shoulder, but the blonde beast just pulled away as best as she could.

"Don't tell me what to do! It's my anger and I can do whatever the hell I want with it!" Yang snapped, snarled like a wild animal.

"Yang, you thick headed oaf! Are you even listening to us!?" Weiss scowled right in the blonde's face, never faltering while staring "If you run in there head first, you will most certainly kill yourself. None of us can do anything to fix this."

"So I'm supposed to stand here and let my sister die!?"

Everyone seemed to stop and look at Yang - who had stopped resisting - surprised and dumbfounded. The question came out harsh and blunt, but she didn't care. Nothing was going to separate her from her sister.  _Nothing_. "Ruby is your friend;  _our_  friend! She has done so much for us, you in particular! The only reason your stupid life is as meaningful as it is today is because of her! She has been there for you and you are going to just stand and watch her disappear! Is that what you want!? Is that what best friends do!? Is _this_  what you want!?"

Weiss pulled away from Yang's face but continued to stare into the lilac eyes with no evidence of the discipline and confidence from before. She thought about what Yang said, it hurts to hear and hard to reflect back at her. She wants to retort Yang accusations, prove to her that they couldn't do anything to help, that Ruby was just as trapped as the others down there and they can't go in to drag her back out.

And yet no answer came from her, which made Yang narrow her eyes at the alabaster haired girl.

"Thought so." She spat out, not as vigorously from before but still seething with venom. With everyone caught off guard, she made one last pull and broke free from everyone's arms, ploughing a path into the building. No one tried to stop her this time, all of them knew there was no stopping Yang when she was set in motion.

Weiss, on the other hand, was lost in thought. Yang's words had stung at her heart and the fact that it was all true made it worse. No friend would stand still and let another die; Ruby wouldn't do it, so why should she? It was her company, her inheritance, and therefore her responsibility for those under its name, including her friends and best friend.

No, not her best friend. The love of her life. She can't lose her, not now, she has some much to live for and the Heiress has some much to tell. She can't let it end like this.

A quick look into Blake's pleading amber eyes made up her mind.

She looked back towards the source of the trouble and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "I'm so going to kill Ruby if we survive this."

The Heiress took off running with Blake by her side, ignoring the pleads of the employees to move away as she entered her own building. That just left Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren standing outside.

"I guess we wait here until the firefighters arrive." Jaune nonchalantly said.

Suddenly, Pyrrha sprint ahead of the group towards the smoking building, causing the blonde to reach out for her. "Pyrrha, wait! what are you doing?" Panicking, he called out to her.

The redhead turned back to her panicking boyfriend. "Yang is right Jaune. Ruby is our friend, we have to help her, even if it puts us in danger." She didn't wait any longer and went in after their friends.

"Here we come, Ruby!" Nora cheered with unusual excitement as she followed Pyrrha into the building.

Jaune was left baffled. He wasn't the bravest of his friends, so he wouldn't think of running into danger. But now most of his friends, including his own girlfriend, left him behind to recuse innocent lives. He wasn't selfish, just surprised by their actions. He got an even bigger surprise when he saw Ren prepare to do the exact same thing, so he grabbed his shoulder to get his attention

"You're just going to go along with this?" He asked his silent friend, who just gave him a shrug.

"It's better to take action than to do nothing." Ren simply said as he followed after the rest, leaving Jaune alone.

The boy looked back between other employees and the entrance, unsure of what decision to make.

"Aw, what the hell, I got nothing to lose." He groaned as he shook off his cowardice and finally headed for the entrance, making him the last of the teens to enter the damaged building.

* * *

The flames of the fire flicked in Ruby's eyes as she ran through the ruined building, determination coursing through her and sweat pouring down her face. She had made her way through most of the ground floor and was able to find some employees that were still alive and was able to show them to the exit, she wishes she could escort them out herself, but there could be more trapped in the lower levels and time was running out, so continued to descend the stairway in to save more lives.

Unfortunately, the further she went, the higher the body count raised. It sickened her to see the many lives wasted away like nothing, the people were taken away too soon by the travesty that lies around her and she knows that she could be one of those people.

She knew the dangers of running into a burning building, the concept of death clearly a focal point in her mind. If she got out of this, she was going to be a whole lot of trouble with everyone. Weiss would never let her hear the end of this, Yang would be sticking with her at all times and her parents, oh boy won't they'll be mad when they hear this.

Running around a corner she swears that she had passed a few minutes ago, Ruby stands where she is and cupped her hands to her mouth. "Hello! is anyone trapped in here!? Can you hear me!?" She shouted, moving her body around to let others hear her from different directions.

No response came, only the sounds of fire burning and metal creaking were heard. Ruby's hope that there were still people alive down here was dwindling fast.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she could see a door that was left open slightly, letting out a brighter light at the end of the hall. Seeing a potential life on the line, Ruby ran straight to the open door…

… And immediately stopped in her tracks.

"Wh-what in the world is that?"

Ruby couldn't describe what she was looking at. Resting before her was a small cylindrical chamber that was connected to several pipes and wires to the back wall of the room, most likely bolted to it. She could make out some colours on it side ranging from red, blue, green, yellow and purple, it reminded her of the chamber that Penny emerged from, only this time, she didn't think it was built to house a robot this time.

But like Penny, it peaked her interest.

She walked over to the console, marvelling at the machine in fear and wonder. From her point of view, the room was empty so there was no one in danger… well except for her obviously. Approaching the console, she could make out a screen that was a bit damaged but she was able to read the text.

**NAME: Dust Energy Core Prototype. STATUS: Damaged.**

She looked at the words with confusion, scratching her head. 'Dust Energy Core? What have they been working on down here?' Weiss and Winter had never mentioned anything about this before to her, meaning that this was some sort of top secret project; one that she wasn't supposed to see. 'Oh god, I'm going to be arrested by my best friend! But… she wouldn't do that to me, would she? I mean, yes I've just discovered something highly confidential, but she will forgive me, right? After all-'

"Ruby!" A loud voice broke Ruby from her thoughts. She turned around to see her friends running towards her, with all of them looking relieved that they found. All except Yang, who looked absolutely furious.

"Don't move a single muscle! You're in so much trouble young lady!" She ordered. Seeing her sister this angry was terrifying, the look in her eyes was like she had murderous intentions.

A strange beeping was added to the collection of noises along with a bright red flashing light, spooking the silver eyed girl briefly. She returned her attention to the console behind her and her fear reached an all-time high when she saw a new set of words on the screen:

**WARNING: SYSTEM OVERLOAD**

She lifted her gaze up to the chamber and saw the colours changing sporadically. It looked like it was gonna… 'Oh no.'

Eyes widening, Ruby spun right back to her friends and raised a hand at them.

"Stay back! It's gonna-"

_**BOOM!** _

It was too late. By the time she gave her warning, Ruby felt her body being lifted off the ground and into the air, the intense heat from the explosion riding up her back. She had noticed that the same had happened to her friends, but they weren't sent flying like her. Her vision was a blur and there was a continuous ringing in her ears as she hit the concrete floor hard, feeling the bones in her arms break on impact.

She now lied on the floor of the destroyed room, blood running down her face, giving her confirmation that she also hit her head when she landed. She tried to move, but her legs weren't responding, an unexplainable weight was pinning them down to the ground. All she could feel from them was excruciating pain, it was so painful that she could hardly bear with it. She tried to stay conscious, but the pain was too much.

The last thing she heard was the sound of someone calling her name before she blacked out.


End file.
